Department for Transport

Railways: Accidents

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many platform train interface incidents have been reported on the national rail network in each year since 2010.

Paul Maynard: The number of platform-train interface incidents reported on the national rail network since 2010 is as follows: Number of recorded accidents2010/112011/122012/132013/142014/152015/16Platform-train interface accidents (boarding/alighting)1,2831,3171,3411,4211,4251,427Platform-train interface accidents (not boarding/alighting)979391839586Total number of platform-train interface accidents1,3801,4101,4321,5041,5201,513Number of accidents per million passenger journeys1.020.960.950.950.920.90 The above table shows that the number of accidents per million passenger journeys has declined since 2010 to reach its lowest level since 2010 in 2015/16. This information is based on data available in RSSB’s Annual Safety Performance Report. The latest Report, covering 2015/16, is available from www.rssb.co.uk/risk-analysis-and-safety-reporting/safety-intelligence/safety-performance-reports. An industry-approved Platform-Train Interface Strategy, developed by RSSB and published in January 2015, has been created to reduce the number of platform-train interface incidents and further improve performance across the whole network. This is available from www.rssb.co.uk/Library/improving-industry-performance/2015-01-platform-train-interface-strategy.pdf.

Railways: Tickets

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of automated ticket machines in ensuring that rail commuters are always offered the lowest fare.

Paul Maynard: Rail passengers should always be able to get the best deal and the industry must work harder to make this a reality. Train operators have made some improvements and passengers are benefiting from better on-screen information at some stations but there has got to be improvement right across the network. I have raised this with the Rail Delivery Group that represents all train operating companies as there is clearly more to be done. The Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have plans to undertake customer focused research and analysis of ticket vending machines with findings and next steps to be published in Spring 2017. This follows their recent Annual Rail Consumer Report (June 2016), which identified issues with existing ticket vending machines. We support this work by the ORR in its role as consumer regulator and will continue to challenge the industry to address the issues and make improvements as soon as possible.

Level Crossings: Expenditure

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 June 2016 to Question 40827, what his Department's revenue expenditure other than Network Rail expenditure was on the level crossing reform programme in the last Parliament; and how much such expenditure is budgeted for during the current Parliament.

Paul Maynard: There is a dedicated, ring-fenced, fund for Network Rail’s work to improve and close level crossings. As is usual, the Department’s work on the policy underpinning the level crossing reform programme forms part of a larger budget for railway safety and wider issues and is not therefore separately identifiable.

Railways: Tickets

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what progress has been made in implementing smart ticketing across the rail network; and if he will make a statement.

Paul Maynard: We want smart tickets to be available to passengers across the entire rail network providing them with more convenience and choice. By the end of the year the South East Flexible Ticketing programme will have introduced smart ticketing on five of the major London and south east rail operators. In the North of England, we have committed £150m to support Transport for the North (TfN) in its plans to introduce smart ticketing. The Rail Delivery Group have brought the rail industry together to agree a long-term vision and it is critical that rail operators collaborate and share ideas to make this vision a reality. Through franchising competitions we are supporting the rail industry to develop and deliver modernised ticketing by setting challenging requirements for bidders, ensuring that customers benefit from a 21st century option. Many rail travellers are familiar with using the orange magnetic stripe ticket and I will ensure that this is not withdrawn until alternatives are in place that offer a user experience with which all travellers are comfortable, particularly vulnerable customer groups.

Railways: Market Harborough

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 9 May 2016 to Question 36626, what contributions he expects the Local Enterprise Partnerships to make towards the cost of the Market Harborough straightening works.

Paul Maynard: The Local Enterprise Partnerships are planning to contribute £13 million from Local Growth Deals as part of this government’s record investment in the rail network.

Railways: Electrification

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he expects Network Rail to publish an update to its industry electrification strategy.

Paul Maynard: Network Rail is now evaluating electrification of routes on a case by case basis as one of the ways of delivering enhanced train services to meet the forecast growth in rail usage.

London Bridge Station

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans that the new platforms at London Bridge Station will become operational.

Paul Maynard: The redevelopment of London Bridge station by Network Rail is progressing to schedule. The new terminating platforms ten to fifteen have been in operation since January 2015 and platforms seven to nine, for services to Charing Cross, became operational on 29 August 2016. The remaining new platforms will be brought into use by January 2018. Platform six, also for Charing Cross services, will become operational in August 2017. Platforms four and five (for Thameslink services) and one to three (for Cannon Street services) will become operational in January 2018.

Public Transport: Disability

Kirsten  Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how the proposals contained in the Bus Services Bill will improve the ability of people with visual or hearing impairments to make use of public transport.

Andrew Jones: We are committed to building transport networks which work for everyone, including ensuring that disabled people have the same access to transport as other members of society. The Bus Services Bill will enable the development of bus services which reflect better the communities they serve, giving authorities the tools to ensure that local transport truly works for everyone. Where the local authority feels it is appropriate, the provision of accessible information can be made mandatory in franchising contracts. This could also be achieved through enhanced partnership schemes if there is agreement from the majority of bus operators.

High Speed 2 Railway Line: North West

Antoinette Sandbach: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether HS2 Ltd has used (a) InSAR surveys and (b) other survey methods to survey ground movements on the proposed route of phase 2B of HS2 between Crewe and Manchester/Leeds.

Andrew Jones: HS2 Ltd has not commissioned any satellite (InSAR) surveys nor (to date) any purchase of existing/historical data or bespoke analysis of that. HS2 Ltd has carried out two Lidar surveys of the proposed route of phase 2B of HS2 between Crewe and Manchester, with a view to comparing the two datasets to appraise ground movements in the time between the two surveys. This is work in progress. Other available Lidar data (made available by the Environment Agency) has been used to manually appraise ground movements of specific locations in the saltfield.

Railways: Electrification

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent progress has been made on the electrification of the Leeds-Harrogate-York railway line.

Paul Maynard: Later this year the rail industry will present its initial advice to Government on investment needs for the national network in the next Control Period (2019-2024), drawing on the outputs of Network Rail’s long term planning process, including its review of the national electrification strategy. Taking account of this advice and other inputs – including from Transport for the North - the Government intends to articulate its emerging priorities for improvement to the national network during 2017.

A52

Amanda Solloway: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of the proposed A52 improvement programme.

Mr John Hayes: Highways England, in accordance with its Delivery Plan, is delivering the A52 scheme in Roads Investment Strategy Period 1 (2015-2020) and plans to start construction by 2019/20. The scheme will deliver a package of measures to improve junctions along the A52 near Nottingham to assist with the development of the Nottingham Enterprise Zone adjacent to the A52. Highways England has appointed design consultants to work up and assess a range of options and will be engaging stakeholders in the coming months.

Diesel Vehicles: Exhaust Emissions

Dawn Butler: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to make it illegal to disable a diesel particulate filter.

Mr John Hayes: It is an offence under the Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations (Regulation 61a(3)) to use on a road a vehicle which has been modified in such a way that it no longer complies with the air pollutant emissions standards it was designed to meet. Removal of a diesel particulate filter (DPF), from a vehicle used on the road, will invariably result in a contravention of the Regulations (making the vehicle unlawful to use on the road). The potential penalties are £1,000 for a car and £2,500 for a van, lorry or bus. Under section 75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, it is an offence to alter a vehicle in such a way that the use of the vehicle on a road would be unlawful. Thus both the vehicle user and the person disabling the DPF (if they knew or believed that the vehicle would be used on the road) could be found guilty of an offence under the Act.

Govia Thameslink Railway: Fares

Nusrat Ghani: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans are in place for the proposed fare increase due on 1 January 2017 to directly fund improvements on the GTR network.

Paul Maynard: We have capped the rail fares we regulate at inflation (Retail Price Index) since 2014, and will continue to do so for the life of this parliament. This means those fares we regulate will not rise by more than1.9% in 2017. Limiting fares increases to inflation-only means that industry revenues keep track, but do not out-pace, the impact of inflation on their costs. Our current investment programme is the largest since the Victorian era and requires funding from both taxpayers and farepayers. As part of this, the GTR Franchise Agreement contains obligations requiring the franchisee to make significant improvements at stations and on trains through the life of the franchise. On the Thameslink network alone that means £1.6billion of new trains which started to be introduced earlier this summer and Gatwick Express has also benefited from new trains. During this time of major investment we are also clear that at the same time we must deliver a more joined up approach to running the trains and tracks and make things work better for the travelling public. That is why My Rt Hon Friend the Secretary of State has just announced a package of measure including a £20milion fund and the appointment of one of Britain’s most experienced rail industry figures to get the service running back as it should.

London Airports

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether the Government plans to impose conditions on the airport which is awarded an additional runway when making a decision on the expansion of airport capacity.

Mr John Hayes: The Government remains fully committed to delivering the important infrastructure projects it has set out, including delivering runway capacity on the timetable set out by Sir Howard Davies. The Government believes it is essential that expansion via any of the shortlisted schemes is accompanied by a strong package of measures to mitigate the impacts on communities and the environment, and will set out any requirements in this area on a preferred scheme promoter in due course.

Heathrow Airport: Transport

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the documents provided by Transport for London to Greenpeace in response to a Freedom of Information request in April 2016, what steps his Department is taking to assess the accuracy of the estimate made by Transport for London that £18.4 billion would need to be spent on surface access to Heathrow Airport should that airport be awarded a third runway.

Mr John Hayes: The Airports Commission assessed the surface access requirements of each shortlisted scheme as part of its work in completing its Final Report and Transport for London’s (TfL) views were considered by the Commission as part of this work. The Government has noted Transport for London’s recent estimates of the surface access costs necessary for the expansion of Heathrow airport and understand that TfL’s figures include the costs of infrastructure schemes which may be needed to cater for wider population and economic growth up to 2040, as well as schemes which would be required to cater for additional airport users. The Government will consider the large amount of very detailed analysis contained in the Airports Commission’s final report, including its examination of the costs of the surface access proposals associated with airport expansion, before taking any decisions on next steps.

Railways: Finance

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timetable is for local councils to bid for funds to improve local railway stations and rail services.

Paul Maynard: The Department launched a new round of the New Stations Fund on 26 August, with up to £20 million available towards the total project cost. Promoters of new stations, including local authorities, should submit bids by 25 November.

Heathrow Airport: Air Pollution

Adam Afriyie: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if the Government will make it its policy that should a third runway be agreed at Heathrow Airport, that runway will not be permitted to operate if the airport breaches air quality limits.

Mr John Hayes: The Airports Commission shortlisted three airport expansion schemes, two at Heathrow and one at Gatwick. We are carefully considering the evidence in relation to all three schemes. The Government accepted the Commission’s shortlist in December 2015, and has since been undertaking a programme of further work, including on air quality, to support a decision on a preferred scheme. The Government’s decision on a preferred scheme will take into account the Government’s overall plan to improve air quality and its commitments to comply with legal obligations.

Driving: Licensing

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how long the average anticipated response time is for a review of a driving licence due to medical reasons.

Andrew Jones: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) deals with more than 600,000 medical driver licensing applications annually. The length of time taken to deal with an individual application depends on the medical condition and whether further information is required from medical professionals. Between April 2016 and the end of August 2016, the average time taken for a licensing decision to be made was 38 working days. The average time for the period April 2015 to March 2016 was 53 working days.

High Speed Two: Legal Costs

Mrs Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much has been disbursed from the public purse in legal fees for solicitors, parliamentary agents, barristers and their staff who have been working on behalf of HS2 Ltd.

Andrew Jones: The Department has appointed a joint team of solicitors/parliamentary agents from Winckworth Sherwood and Eversheds LLP to provide support in relation to the HS2 Phase 1 hybrid Bill. The current spend on this contract is £9,594,124.36. The Department has also appointed a joint team of solicitors/parliamentary agents from Winckworth Sherwood and Eversheds LLP to support the preparation of the HS2 Phase 2a hybrid Bill, which is expected to be deposited in 2017. The current spend on this contract is £146,265.10. The Department continues to instruct a team of barristers to support the HS2 project. Each barrister is remunerated at agreed government hourly rates. The spend on these barristers for the period from 2013 to the present is £2,219,872.30. All figures are correct up to 5 September 2016 and are exclusive of VAT. Since approximately 2010, the Department has also instructed a number of barristers on other HS2 related work, primarily litigation. These barristers will have been remunerated at agreed government hourly rates, but unfortunately it would involve disproportionate cost for the Department to provide precise figures.

Transport: Legislation

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish the Modern Transport Bill announced in the Queen's Speech of 2016.

Mr John Hayes: The Department for Transport is developing the measures announced in the Queen’s speech, and the Bill will be introduced into Parliament in due course.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Housing Benefit

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Work and Pensions on proposed changes to housing benefit and the exemption of supported housing.

Gavin Barwell: DCLG is working closely with the Department of Work and Pensions, and with the supported housing sector and other partners to develop a sustainable and workable future for supported housing.

Communities and Local Government: Females

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to implement the actions identified for it in the Government's Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020, published in March 2016; and when a member of staff from his Department last attended a Violence against Women and Girls Stakeholder Meeting chaired by the Home Office.

Mr Marcus Jones: DCLG is working with partners, including the Local Government Association, local authorities and women’s sector organisations to implement its commitments in the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Strategy. These are to launch a two-year fund for specialist accommodation-based support and services, and to help local areas meet the National Statement of Expectations which will set out for the first time what we expect from local areas in commissioning violence against women and girls services. DCLG is also committed to launching a new programme to support domestic abuse victims with complex needs.The last Violence Against Women and Girls Stakeholder Meeting took place on 11 July 2016. DCLG officials did not attend as that meeting was between Home Office and third sector stakeholders. However, DCLG officials will be attending forthcoming meetings on this topic.

Planning Permission: Costs

Mr Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of retrospective planning applications to local councils in (a) Devon and (b) the UK in the last five years.

Gavin Barwell: Holding answer received on 07 September 2016



The Department does not collect the data requested.

Planning Permission: Costs

Mr Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what proportion of the cost of a retrospective planning application is covered by the (a) applicant and (b) local authority.

Gavin Barwell: Holding answer received on 07 September 2016



The Department does not collect the data requested.

Planning Permission: Costs

Mr Hugo Swire: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether he plans to change the proportion of the cost of retrospective planning applications currently paid by developers.

Gavin Barwell: Holding answer received on 07 September 2016



A nationally set fee is payable where a retrospective planning application is submitted to regularise a breach of planning control, to support the council with the costs of determining the application. We are clear that unauthorised development is unacceptable and unfair to the majority who abide by the rules. However, the retrospective planning application process is there to give those who have made a genuine mistake the opportunity to rectify the situation. We have no plans to review the way fees are calculated for retrospective applications at this point.

Local Government: Urban Areas

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what powers he intends to devolve to city regions; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Percy: It is for a city region or any other place to put forward proposals for any powers that it wishes to be devolved to it, together with its proposals for the necessary strong governance arrangements to support these.   The Government has already agreed devolution deals with nine areas which provide for the devolution of wide ranging powers and budgets on planning, transport and skills and the election of mayors in 2017.

Homelessness: Social Rented Housing

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to require local authorities to prioritise homeless people in the allocation of social housing.

Mr Marcus Jones: We have maintained the protection provided by the statutory reasonable preference criteria which ensure that overall priority for allocation of social housing continues to be given to those in the greatest housing need. The reasonable preference categories include people who are homeless and those owed certain duties under the homelessness legislation.

Planning: Standards

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of making compulsory the accessibility standards outlined in the National Planning Policy Framework.

Gavin Barwell: National planning policy is clear that in developing their local plans, planning authorities should consider the needs of a wide range of households, including older and disabled households.The role of higher accessibility standards for new housing was considered during the Housing Standards Review undertaken by the Coalition Government. As a result, Optional Requirements for higher levels of accessibility were introduced into the Building Regulations and came into force on 1 October 2015. It was decided at that time that the application of these standards should remain a matter for Local Planning Authorities taking into account local needs and viability.Details of relevant consultations and impact assessments can be found at the link below:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/2010-to-2015-government-policy-building-regulation/2010-to-2015-government-policy-building-regulation#appendix-5-technical-housing-standards-review

Planning Permission: Sites of Special Scientific Interest

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what assessment he has made of the strength of a designation as a Site of Special Scientific Interest in determining planning applications.

Gavin Barwell: The National Planning Policy Framework provides strong protection for Sites of Special Scientific Interest. It makes clear that proposed development likely to have an adverse effect on a Site of Special Scientific Interest should not normally be permitted. Planning law requires local planning authorities to consult Natural England on applications for development in or likely to affect Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

Homelessness: Greater London

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how much his Department provided to each London borough in Homeless Prevention Grant for 2016-17.

Mr Marcus Jones: One person without a home is one too many. That is why we have maintained and protected homelessness prevention funding for local authorities through the local government finance settlement totalling £315 million by 2019/20. We have also increased central government funding to tackle homelessness to £139 million over the next four years.The spreadsheet showing individual authority allocations was published on 8 February and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/core-spending-power-final-local-government-finance-settlement-2016-to-2017.

Local Authorities: Land

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, how many councils do not currently have a five-year land supply.

Gavin Barwell: Holding answer received on 07 September 2016



We do not hold information centrally on how many local planning authorities do not have a five-year land supply for housing. A local planning authority's five-year land supply position changes frequently and is subject to market conditions. The National Planning Policy Framework requires local planning authorities to keep their land supply under regular review.

Beaches: Safety

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to assess public safety on beaches in England; and if he will make a statement.

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, whether his Department plans to review safety arrangements on English beaches; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Marcus Jones: Safety at public beaches is generally the responsibility of the local authority, who carry out risk assessments to determine appropriate safety measures. Generic guidance for the safe use of beaches is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/keeping-safe-at-the-coast-beach-safety-advice

Tenancy Deposit Solutions

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what provisions there are for tenants to ensure that they able to recover security deposits  that have been returned to the letting agents by the MyDeposit scheme.

Gavin Barwell: If a tenant meets all their obligations at the end of the tenancy, the deposit will be returned to them in full by the agent (under the insured scheme) or by the tenancy deposit scheme (under the custodial scheme).If there is a dispute about the amount of deposit to be returned to the tenant, both parties can either agree to use the free alternative dispute resolution (ADR) service provided by the schemes or go to court. If they decide to use the ADR service, the case will be considered by an independent adjudicator and the decision will be binding on both parties.The disputed amount will be held by the scheme until the court or adjudicator makes a decision on how the amount should be apportioned between the parties.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Manufacturing Industries: EU Internal Trade

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential cost to (a) the aerospace industry, (b) the car manufacturing industry and (c) other manufacturing in the UK of not having access to the EU Single Market.

Mr Nick Hurd: There are a number of factors that the Government will need to consider when developing our strategy for negotiating our withdrawal from the European Union. The Department is working closely with businesses to understand their concerns and I will be working with colleagues across government to make sure we understand all of the potential risks and opportunities across the economy. This will continue to inform our approach as we seek to shape our future relationship with Europe.

Companies: Ownership

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the Government plans to conclude and publish its consultation on establishing public central registers of beneficial ownership of UK properties owned by foreign companies.

Margot James: The Department is currently developing the policy detail to be included within the consultation, which we intend to publish later this year.

Electric Cables: Lake District National Park

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of the North West Coast Connections Project if cables through the Lake District National Park are (a) routed underground and (b) not routed underground.

Jesse Norman: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Fireworks

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will assess the potential effect on (a) public safety and (b) animal welfare of restricting fireworks displays to regulated organised displays only.

Margot James: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Safety: Equipment

Hannah Bardell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that personal protective equipment which does not comply with the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002 is not used in the UK.

Margot James: Under the Personal Protective Equipment Regulations 2002 it is a criminal offence to place on the market personal protective equipment that does not comply with the regulations or to supply any such equipment unless it is safe. Trading Standards are responsible for taking appropriate action against personal protective equipment that does not comply with the Regulations. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy continues to work closely with Trading Standards to ensure that any Personal Protective Equipment on the market is safe.

Safety: Equipment

Hannah Bardell: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to take steps to incorporate into UK law the new personal protective equipment regulations.

Margot James: The new Personal Protective Equipment Regulation adopted earlier this year, will apply from 21 April 2018 and while it does not need transposing into UK legislation there will need to be implementing UK legislation to provide for enforcement and penalties. The Government will consult on these provisions in due course.

Electric Cables: Lake District National Park

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will provide assurances that the North West Coast Connections Project will include underground cables through the Lake District National Park.

Jesse Norman: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Fireworks

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make it his policy to require individuals and organisations to be licensed to purchase fireworks.

Margot James: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Minimum Wage

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the combined total financial penalty was for non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage imposed on the 197 employers who were named and shamed by his Department for such non-compliance on 11 August 2016.

Margot James: The Government is committed to cracking down on employers who break National Minimum Wage law. In addition to the repayment of arrears to workers, named employers are subject to financial penalties.The total financial penalties for employers named for non-compliance with the National Minimum Wage on 11 August 2016 was £254,953.04.

Employment Tribunals Service: Fines

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many financial penalties have been imposed to date on respondent employers under section 150 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 for failure to pay an employment tribunal award; and how many such penalties (a) have been paid and (b) remain unpaid.

Margot James: Section 150 of the Small Business, Enterprise and Employment Act 2015 came into force on 6th April 2016. Since then 62 warning notices have been issued in relation to complaints for failure to pay an employment tribunal award. Warning notices are issued in response to complaints and can only be issue 42 days after the original award was made. Penalty notices are issued 28 days after that if payment is not made in the interim. This means there has been no requirement to issue a penalty notice to date. However, 14 penalty notices are due to be issued imminently.The issue of warning notices has led to ten claims being settled equating to over £50,000 of previously unpaid tribunal awards.

Citizens Advice Scotland

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether the Government plans to increase funding to Citizens Advice Scotland in response to the transfer of social security powers to the Scottish Parliament by the Scotland Act 2016.

Margot James: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy provides Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) with core funding on behalf of all Whitehall Departments and the Scottish Government. This enables CAS to provide essential services to the Scottish network of Citizens Advice Bureaux and deliver advice on all manner of issues direct to Scottish citizens via its website. There are no plans to increase core funding across the current Spending Review period.

Citizens Advice Scotland

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what Ministerial oversight he plans to put in place of the implementation of the key findings and recommendations of the Citizens Advice Scotland Independent governance review, published on 27 July 2016.

Margot James: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy takes its responsibility for managing public money seriously and was deeply concerned by the issues raised in the independent governance review. Citizens Advice Scotland has since committed to taking concrete steps to instil robust governance and financial controls. My Department has agreed to continue funding on the basis that these changes are made and will report to me regularly on progress. Citizens Advice Scotland provides a vital service to the people of Scotland, as well high-quality support to vulnerable consumers throughout Britain. My Department will keep working with the Scottish Government and the organisation to improve governance and help make sure this continues.

Electric Cables: Lake District National Park

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will meet with Millom Without Parish Council to discuss options to ensure that the North West Coast Connection Project does not affect the landscape of the west of the Lake District National Park.

Jesse Norman: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Energy: Prices

Ian C. Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an estimate of the average annual energy charges paid by (a) existing and (b) new customers in each of the last five years.

Jesse Norman: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Living Wage: Social services

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of the national living wage on sleep-in shifts in the learning disabilities sector.

Margot James: The Low Pay Commission (LPC) independently advises the Government on the trajectory of the National Living Wage (NLW).As part of their remit, the LPC continues to consult a broad range of stakeholders within the social care sector on the impact of the NLW. Furthermore, from April 2017, the Spending Review makes available social care funds for local government, rising to £1.5 billion by 2019/20, to be included in the Better Care Fund. From 2016/17, local councils have also been able to introduce a Social Care Precept, allowing them to increase council tax by 2% above the existing threshold. This could raise nearly £2bn a year for social care by 2019/20. Taken together, these measures mean that local government has access to £3.5 billion of support by 2019/20 - the funding it needs to increase social care spending in real terms by the end of the Parliament.

Personal Injury: Insurance

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, with reference to the oral contribution of the then Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills of 23 January 2014, Official Report, column 434, whether an investigation into the selling of personal accident insurance by Blue Arrow, Staffline, Acorn, Taskmaster, Randstad and Meridian employment agencies has been conducted; and if he will make a statement.

Margot James: The Employment Agency Standards (EAS) Inspectorate conducted an investigation into the named employment agencies. Information regarding selling of personal accident insurance was gathered and reviewed. EAS was satisfied that on this occasion no breach of The Employment Agencies Act 1973 or The Conduct of Employment Agencies and Employment Businesses Regulations 2003 (as amended) had taken place. Should further relevant information come to light, EAS will review the situation.

Business: Human Rights

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which Department will have lead responsibility for the National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights.

Margot James: The implementation of the UK’s national action plan on business and human rights is jointly led by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.

Nuclear Power Stations: China

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department plans to support a role for Chinese companies in the construction or ownership of new nuclear power stations in the UK.

Jesse Norman: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

New Businesses: Loans

Chris Elmore: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department provide any alternative support for people who have been refused a Start-up loan due to their credit score.

Margot James: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Climate Change Convention

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the UK plans to ratify the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Mr Nick Hurd: Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Director of Labour Market Enforcement

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what timeline he has set for the appointment of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department consulted workers' representatives and groups representing victims of labour exploitation during the appointment process for the Director of Labour Market Enforcement.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what discussions he has had with the Home Secretary on the appointment of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement.

Margot James: The appointment of the Director of Labour Market Enforcement is being made through a formal recruitment process. A campaign was jointly launched by the Department for Business, Energy and Industry Strategy (BEIS) and the Home Office in June after the Immigration Act received Royal Assent in May 2016. Shortlisting took place during the summer and interviews are scheduled for early October. My Rt hon Friends the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Home Department plan to meet appointable candidates following interviews, and will have discussions before making a joint decision. The successful candidate will be announced as soon as practicably possible. BEIS and the Home Office are working together to implement a Labour market Enforcement programme. This followed a formal consultation, Tackling Exploitation in the Labour Market, to which groups representing workers and victims of labour market exploitation responded.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Australia: Refugees

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise with his Australian counterpart the issue of the living conditions of refugees on Nauru.

Alok Sharma: We welcome Prime Minister Turnbull’s announcement that the Australian Government will examine complaints about the treatment of detainees at its immigration detention centre in Nauru. We would not want to prejudge the outcome of that process. The United Kingdom has previously raised these issues with the Australian Government, including at the UN Human Rights Council Universal Periodic Review of Australia in November 2015.

Pakistan: Terrorism

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what support the Government is providing to Pakistan following the bomb attack on lawyers at a hospital in Quetta.

Alok Sharma: My thoughts are with the people of Pakistan, including the victims and all those affected by the terrible attack in Quetta. The UK continues to stand with Pakistan in its efforts to tackle terrorism and the extremism that sustains it. Our ongoing support includes working together to help Pakistan deal with improvised explosive devices, to reform the civilian criminal justice system so terrorists are held to account, and to help Pakistan confront the extremist narratives that underpin terrorism.

Sri Lanka: Water

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what reports his Department has received on the lack of clean water in Sri Lanka's Jaffna Peninsula; and if he will raise that scarcity with the Sri Lankan government.

Alok Sharma: The British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka visited Jaffna in June and raised concerns about water contamination with the local authorities. He received assurances that they were aware of the issue and were addressing it. They also discussed water quality in general and longer term plans for providing water through desalination.

Israel: Palestinians

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to the government of Israel on that government's resettlement programme and the demolition of Susiya and Umm al-Hiran.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: The village of Susiya is located in the Occupied Palestinian Territories whilst the village of Umm al-Hiran is located within Israel.Our Embassy in Tel Aviv has repeatedly raised our opposition to demolitions with the Israeli authorities, including our specific concerns about Susiya, and urged them to provide a legal route for Palestinian construction. On 18 August, officials from the British Consulate General in Jerusalem, along with an official from our Embassy in Tel Aviv, visited Susiya again to highlight our serious concern and demonstrate our continuing support for the village. We most recently raised Susiya with Defence Minister Lieberman on 24 August.The UK has been encouraging the Israeli authorities and Bedouin communities to find a satisfactory solution to Umm al-Hiran, respecting the equality of all of Israel’s citizens in a way which avoids forcible relocations.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Private Education

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many of his Department's staff are in receipt of support for private school fees for children whose parents are stationed (a) in the UK and (b) overseas.

Sir Alan Duncan: The number of diplomatic officers stationed in the UK in receipt of school fees is 179. The number of diplomatic officers stationed overseas in receipt of school fees is 173. The FCO supports a further 1108 children who are stationed with their parents and educated locally.

British Indian Ocean Territory

Ian Murray: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what the Government's policy is on the renewal of the lease on the Chagos Islands that ends on 31 December 2016; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Alan Duncan: The Government supports the US presence on Diego Garcia in the British Indian Ocean Territory, and wishes it to continue. This presence is underpinned by an Exchange of Notes which will roll over automatically for a further 20 years if neither side decides to terminate it before 30 December this year.

Laurence Soper

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the government of Kosovo on the extradition of Abbot Laurence Soper.

Sir Alan Duncan: My Officials have been in close contact with the Kosovo authorities about this case. Abbot Laurence Soper was deported from Kosovo to the UK on 21 August as he was in breach of his immigration status in Kosovo. He was arrested by the UK Police on his arrival, and is now in custody in the UK.

Syria: Prisons

Stuart C. McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he plans to take to support access for independent monitors to (a) places of detention in Syria and (b) Saydnaya prison.

Mr Tobias Ellwood: I condemn the Asad regime’s arbitrary arrest, illegal detention and mistreatment of tens of thousands of Syrians and call for the release of all those arbitrarily detained, especially women and children, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 2254 and 2268.I fully support calls for access for independent monitors to all places of detention in Syria, including the regime’s notorious Saydnaya prison. The Government has sought to keep international focus on this issue, particularly via the UN. We have ensured that detention and mistreatment has featured in successive Syria resolutions of the UN Security Council and Human Rights Council, and will continue to do so. We also regularly raise detainee issues at the Task Forces of the International Syria Support Group in Geneva.

Cabinet Office

Civil Servants: Redundancy Pay

Julie Elliott: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2016 to Question 39163, when the Government expects to publish its analysis of responses to the consultation on the Civil Service Compensation Scheme.

Ben Gummer: The Government has given careful consideration of the responses to the consultation and has sought to continue to engage with trade unions with the aim of reaching agreement on a set of reforms.We expect to publish the response to the consultation shortly.

Civil Service: Performance Appraisal

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his policy is on reform to the performance management systems used in the Civil Service; and if he will abolish the guided distribution model of performance markings.

Ben Gummer: The Civil Service currently operates within a Performance Management framework, introduced in 2012, which has helped to improve performance management practice and culture by focussing on regular conversation and assessment of both ‘what’ people do and ‘how’ they do it. The current approach has brought consistency and helped improve managers’ ability to differentiate between levels of performance.The Civil Service is currently reviewing its approach to performance management to ensure that we are keeping up with external best practice and internal changes. As part of this, we are in the process of trialling ways in which we can build on the success of the current system. We will reflect on the outcomes of these trials upon the conclusion of the 2016-17 performance year to inform an evidence-based decision on the future of performance management in the Civil Service from 2018/19; this will include how the Civil Service will take forward the guided distribution element of the current system.

Electoral Commission

Steve McCabe: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, for what reasons the proposals in Early Day Motion 278, on Office of Electoral Integrity, are not incorporated into the roles and responsibilities of the Electoral Commission; and if he will take steps to incorporate such proposals in the Electoral Commission's remit.

Chris Skidmore: The accuracy of arguments advanced in the course of referendum and election campaigns is not subject to regulation.The Government will consider this and other issues relating to the regulation of political campaigning, following the publication of the Electoral Commission’s report on the administration of the referendum on the United Kingdom’s membership of the European Union which is expected shortly.Creating a new body to regulate what candidates and political campaigners could say would have an effect on freedom of speech within the law. Moreover, the proposed regime would be likely to fuel malicious and partisan complaints (and counter-complaints), which would undermine, rather than strengthen, confidence in the democratic process.

Government Departments: Reorganisation

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to his Written Ministerial Statement of 18 July 2016 on Machinery of Government Changes, HCWS94, if he will publish data setting out all costs associated with the changes outlined in that statement.

Ben Gummer: Information on budgets for new departments, including budgets allocated for the creation of the department, will be held by the departments in question. Budgets for new departments will be voted on by Parliament at the Supplementary Estimate.

Government Departments: Cost Effectiveness

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what savings the Efficiency and Reform Group has identified in each year since 2010.

Ben Gummer: Since 2010, the government has announced the following efficiency savings and benefits calculated against a 2009/10 baseline:For 2010/11 the Government reported savings of £3.75billion.In 2011/12 the Government reported operational savings of £4.8 billion, and prevention of wasteful spend by major projects and construction of £758million, totalling £5.5billion.In 2012/13 the Government reported operational savings totalling £8billion, and prevention of wasteful spend by major projects and construction of £2billion, totalling £10billion.In 2013/14 reported savings of £14.3billion. This consisted of operational savings of £10.6billion, reduction in low value spend by major projects, reduced revenue requirements and construction savings of £3.5billion and receipts from asset sales and new commercial models of £0.1billion.In 2014/15 reported savings of £18.6billion. This consists of operational savings of £12.4billion, reduction in low value spend by major projects, reduced revenue requirements and constructions savings of £5.1billion, receipts from asset sales and new commercial models of £0.4billion and benefits from tackling fraud, error and debt of £0.7billion.

Electoral Register

Jo Stevens: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what lessons the Government has learned about voter registration from the EU referendum campaign.

Chris Skidmore: The EU Referendum campaign was the largest democratic exercise the United Kingdom has ever witnessed. Indeed, there were 46.5 million people on the electoral register for the EU Referendum, the largest UK Parliamentary register ever seen. Building on this success, the Government is currently undertaking a programme of work looking at how the electoral registration can be made more efficient and boost the levels of registration further. This includes piloting changes to the annual canvass to test new approaches which have been identified through working closely with Electoral Registration Officers.

Government Departments: Cost Effectiveness

Marcus Fysh: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what measures his Department is putting in place to make government more cost-effective.

Chris Davies: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what measures his Department is putting in place to make government more cost-effective.

Ben Gummer: Improving the efficiency and productivity of the public sector is central to the work of the Cabinet Office and other government Departments. By 2014/15 the Government had saved £18.6 billion through efficiency and reform.The government is continuing this work. For example, we are working to improve how the government operates across functional areas such as commercial, property, infrastructure and projects, and by tackling fraud, error and debt. We will continue to make government more effective throughout this parliament.

National Flood Resilience Review

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent progress has been made on the National Flood Resilience Review.

Ben Gummer: The National Flood Resilience Review has been assessing how England can be better protected from flooding and extreme rainfall. The review has been working to identify actions needed to strengthen our resilience to flooding.

Low Pay

Chris Law: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will ensure that all government departments produce an analysis of the effect of their policies on people who are low-paid.

Ben Gummer: At each Budget and Autumn Statement, the Government already produces cumulative distributional analysis; this shows the impact of government policies since 2010 on the share of tax paid and spending received, across the household income distribution.Where appropriate, departments also choose to publish analyses of the potential effects on protected characteristics, and of the effect of government policy on families.

Department for International Development

Department for International Development: Private Education

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many of her Department's staff are in receipt of support for private school fees for children whose parents are stationed (a) in the UK and (b) overseas.

Rory Stewart: This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost to the taxpayer.

Department for International Development: Private Education

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much was spent by her Department on private school fees for children whose parents are stationed (a) in the UK and (b) overseas in the last financial year.

Rory Stewart: This information is not readily available and could only be provided at disproportionate cost to the taxpayer.

Department for International Development: Females

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to implement the actions identified for it in the Government's Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020, published in March 2016; and when a member of staff from her Department last attended a Violence against Women and Girls Stakeholder Meeting chaired by the Home Office.

Rory Stewart: DFID has made significant progress in scaling up efforts to address violence against women and girls, nearly doubling our programming, from 64 programmes in 2012 to 127 in 2016, and working with partners across all sectors. Our £36 million programme to end Child, Early and Forced Marriage is helping thousands of girls escape losing any choice or control over their future. We have committed £8 million to support AmplifyChange, an initiative to support civil society activists to end child marriage and address a broader range of gender issues. In 2015 we provided £2.25 million of support to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women and Girls which provides grants to organisations across the world to tackle gender-based violence.ICAI published its review of DFID’s efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls on Tuesday 17 May 2016. This review gave DFID’s performance a ‘Green’ rating, the highest achievable. The UK and DFID’s new Secretary of State will continue to lead the global effort to improve the lives of women and girls.The last Home Office chaired Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Stakeholder Meeting took place on July 11 2016. No officials from other departments were invited to this meeting. However, one of the action points arising from this meeting was to invite other departments in future. An official from DFID’s VAWG Team will attend the next meeting.

Developing Countries: Females

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, whether her Department will commit to maintaining or increasing funding that is allocated to eradicating violence against women in armed conflict, facilitating universal access to reproductive healthcare and supporting equal rights and opportunities for women and girls.

Rory Stewart: The UK has put the empowerment of women and girls at the heart of our international development work, and is delivering significant results for women and girls. We played an instrumental role in influencing the global agreement for Sustainable Development Goal 5 ‘to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls’. We also made firm commitments to support women and girls in the 2015 UK Aid strategy, underpinned by the 2014 International Development (Gender Equality) Act legislation, which ensures that UK Aid development and humanitarian work considers gender issues as a core part of everything they deliver. The UK is a global leader in promoting, protecting and supporting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), including neglected and difficult issues. The 2012 London Summit on Family Planning put the issue firmly back on the international agenda, and the UK is a core convenor of the FP2020 movement established at the Summit to drive forward progress.Full attainment of political, social and economic rights for women and girls is a UK priority, recognising its centrality to greater peace and stability. Violence against women and girls is one of the most systematic, widespread human rights violations worldwide. Globally, 1 in 3 women is beaten or sexually abused in her lifetime. DFID has made significant progress in scaling up efforts to address violence against women and girls, nearly doubling our programming from 64 programmes in 2012 to 127 in 2016 (including the £25 million ‘What Works to Prevent Violence’ programme). The UK and the new Secretary of State will continue to lead the global effort to improve the lives of women and girls, promoting gender equality and women and girls empowerment in all contexts.

Department for Education

Academies

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what average length of time taken was to re-broker an academy that received formal intervention in each year since 2010.

Edward Timpson: Where an academy is not meeting the required standard or needs a change of sponsor, the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) strives to ensure that this change happens as quickly as possible, with minimum impact to the school. The Department does not hold a central record of the time taken for re-brokerage. The Education and Adoption Act 2016 gives RSCs powers to tackle underperformance in academies more quickly, by allowing them to terminate their funding agreement and re-broker an academy if it is judged inadequate by Ofsted or identified as coasting.

Academies: Accountability

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to ensure that multi-academy trusts are accountable to people living in the localities in which they operate; and if she will make a statement.

Edward Timpson: Academies, just like all schools, are subject to strong accountability, both to government and locally, including parents. All academies are subject to Ofsted inspection, and through Parent View parents can tell Ofsted what they think about their child’s school, from the quality of teaching to dealing with bullying and poor behaviour. If a parent has concerns about their child’s school they can raise with the Education Funding Agency who can investigate.

Schools: Standards

Maria Eagle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available to maintained schools to improve in advance of an academy order being issued.

Edward Timpson: We are committed to making sure that schools in all parts of the country can access support, collaboration and best practice by ensuring we have an effective network of system leaders. School partnerships are a vital way of building capacity in the system and enabling schools to take ownership of school improvement by spreading the influence of the best school leaders. We already have over 1,150 National Leaders of Education and over 720 teaching schools working to increase leadership capacity and drive improvement in underperforming schools. The Department also funds programmes that aim to boost leadership capacity for schools in challenging contexts. We believe that academy status and being part of a strong multi academy trust is the right way for all schools to improve. Therefore, where a school is found to be inadequate, we will issue an Academy Order.

Schools: Sports

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate her Department has made of the effect on the number of children participating in sport of the increase in the school sport premium from September 2017.

Edward Timpson: Through the primary PE and sport premium, primary schools have already received over £450 million of ring-fenced funding to improve the quality of their PE and sport provision. Evidence from an independent evaluation into the premium indicates the funding is having a major impact and 84% of schools reported an increase in pupil engagement in PE during curricular time and in the levels of participation in extra-curricular activities. The majority of schools also reported that they have introduced new sports in both curricular PE (74%) and extra-curricular sport (77%) since the premium was introduced. However, we know that there is more to do and the doubling of the premium gives us a real opportunity to drive further progress in this area. We are keen that schools use the increased funding to continue making sustainable improvements to the quality and breadth of PE and sport provision, and help increase participation rates so that all pupils develop healthy active lifestyles. We are currently exploring options for the allocation and evaluation of the doubled premium. Further details will be announced in due course.

Academies: Standards

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many academies have been judged inadequate in the last year; and how many such academies had their funding agreement terminated and were subsequently closed.

Edward Timpson: During the last year (July 2015 to June 2016) there were 44 academies whose Ofsted category was rated as ‘inadequate’. All 44 are automatically subject to scrutiny and close monitoring by Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) to secure rapid improvements. To date, 7 of the 44 academies have been moved to different trusts, 5 have received a pre-warning notice and 1 academy has received a termination warning notice.Information on Ofsted inspection outcomes can be found in Ofsted’s “Monthly management information: Ofsted's school inspections outcomes”:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/monthly-management-information-ofsteds-school-inspections-outcomes.Information on academies issued with warning notices is available at:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/letters-to-academies-about-poor-performance.From April 2016 the Education and Adoption Act 2016 gave RSCs powers to tackle underperformance in academies more quickly, by allowing them to terminate their funding agreement and re-broker an academy if it is judged inadequate by Ofsted or identified as coasting.

Special Educational Needs: Tribunals

Dr Tania Mathias: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to restrict the amount spent by local authorities on legal support and advice in special educational needs and disability tribunals.

Edward Timpson: It is up to local authorities to decide how best to spend their Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) budgets, based on an analysis of local need. The reforms in the Children and Families Act 2014 were designed to make the SEND system less adversarial for parents and young people, as well as for local authorities. The process of Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment and plan development is designed to be collaborative, meaning that most disagreements should be resolved early on. Where disagreements persist, we have introduced a requirement to consider mediation, which has often proved effective in reducing the need to make an appeal to the SEND Tribunal. For example, in 2015, 75% of disagreements over EHC plans for which mediation sessions were held did not result in a Tribunal appeal in that year. The SEND Tribunal aims to be facilitative and accessible, so that it should not be necessary for either parents or local authorities to employ legal support when making or defending an appeal. No additional weight is given to evidence because it is presented by a lawyer and many parents and local authorities successfully pursue their case without legal representation.  The Department is currently conducting a Review of Disagreement Resolution Arrangements, as required by the 2014 Act, which will report to Parliament by 31st March 2017. The Review is looking at how the system of disagreement resolution is working for children, young people and their families, which includes enquiring about the costs incurred by both families and local authorities.

Armed Forces: Children

Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children in an early years setting are in receipt of the service pupil premium.

Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school-aged children in England are in receipt of the service pupil premium.

Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children at key stage (a) 1, (b) 2, (c) 3 and (d) 4 are in receipt of the service pupil premium.

Edward Timpson: No children in an early years setting are in receipt of the service child element of the pupil premium grant. The grant is payable to schools and local authorities for pupils in year groups reception to year 11. The number of school-age children in England eligible for the service child pupil premium in January 2016, broken down by Key Stage, is provided in the table.  ReceptionKey Stage 1Key Stage 2Key Stage 3Key Stage 4TotalNumber of pupils (headcount)6,00813,09826,48917,47910,35873,432Source: School Census, January 2016

Mental Health Services: Young People

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much her Department plans to invest in early intervention services for young people with mental health conditions in each of the next five years.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the implications for her policies on the provision of mental health services for young people in (a) the community and (b) school of the recent 10 per cent increase in instances of depression and anxiety among school-aged girls.

Edward Timpson: Children and young people’s mental health is a priority for this Government, supported by an additional £1.4 billion over the lifetime of this Parliament. Each clinical commissioning group has worked with partners, including schools and colleges, to develop a Local Transformation Plan setting out how they will provide support for the full spectrum of mental health conditions, including early intervention measures. Schools and colleges have an important role to play in supporting the mental health of children and young people, and we will continue to invest in this. We have provided them with a range of information, support, advice and guidance to help them develop ‘whole-school’ approaches to best suit the needs of their pupils. This includes guidance on: teaching about such issues as depression and anxiety within their personal, social, health and economic education curriculum, and providing effective school-based counselling. Teachers can also access free online support for pupils with a range of mental health issues, including depression and anxiety, through the MindEd website. We want to support schools and colleges further, and to help us to know where to best direct this support we are currently conducting a large-scale survey asking them what approaches they use, as well as what they find to be the most effective. The results should be available next spring. The Department of Health has also commissioned a new prevalence survey that should provide updated information on a range of specific mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression. This is due to report in 2018.

Higher Education: Refugees

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people with refugee status have undertaken study at the level of higher education in the UK in each of the last six years.

Joseph Johnson: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Students: Refugees

Mr Jamie Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department provides to students with refugee status.

Edward Timpson: The Department for Education has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Education: Females

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to implement the actions identified for it in the Government's Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020, published in March 2016; and when a member of staff from her Department last attended a Violence against Women and Girls Stakeholder Meeting chaired by the Home Office.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government is committed to delivering the Strategy published in March. The table below shows the progress made in delivering the actions allocated to the Department for Education (DfE) or the Government Equalities Office (GEO). REFDfE/ GEOACTIONPROGRESS1GEODevelop new guidance in consultation with teachers for PHSE lessons specifically about gender equality (Apr 2016).GEO has been working with the PSHE Association to consult teachers on how best to deliver this commitment.2GEOFund the Freedom Charity to expand the ‘Train the Trainers’ project…. (Apr 2016).GEO funded the Freedom Charity to expand their ‘Train the Trainers’ project to reach a greater number of communities and empower teachers to deal with the topic of forced marriage sensitively and confidently. This funding enabled an additional 3,620 students and 1,230 staff to learn about forced marriage with Freedom.3DfEPublish a consultation report on updated statutory safeguarding guidance for schools, Keeping Children Safe in Education, to come into force in September 2016 (May 2016).DfE published the Government response to the consultation in May, and published a draft of the revised guidance for information at that time. The guidance came into force on 5 September 2016.5HO/ GEOLaunch the second phase of the national prevention campaign to challenge abuse in teenage relationships and promote understanding of health relationships and consent – including among LGB&T teenagers (Feb 2016).GEO, in partnership with the Home Office, launched Disrespect Nobody, the second phase of the national prevention campaign to challenge abuse in teenage relationships. This included a TV advert, along with a dedicated website, blogs and guidance for teachers.6DfELaunch a communications campaign to encourage the public to report all forms of child abuse to help address people’s fear of reporting (Mar – autumn 2016).In March 2016 DfE launched the national Together we can tackle child abuse campaign to encourage members of the public to report any concerns they may have about a child, in particular about suspected child abuse and neglect. Over 100 councils have engaged with the campaign so far, and our findings indicate that it is giving people a sense of confidence to report their suspicions. We know it takes time to change opinions and behaviours, which is why we plan to run the campaign again in 2017.8GEOUpdate Media Smart resources (with the Advertising Association) to help teachers and parents improve primary school children’s understanding of how gender is represented in the media and their resilience to negative content (Sep 2016).GEO commissioned the charity Media Smart to develop a new resource to help teachers and parents improve primary school children’s understanding of how gender is represented in the media and their resilience to negative content. The resource was published in August 2016 and will be disseminated to schools this term.10GEOConduct or commission mapping of the evidence base and initiatives that engage men, boys and bystanders in VAWG prevention to identify how Government can build on these initiatives to further social change (Apr 2017).GEO is currently mapping the evidence base and initiatives that engage men, boys and bystanders in VAWG prevention, as well as meeting with stakeholders working in this area.18DfERaise standards in social work and overhaul social work education and practice to improve the recruitment, retention and development of social workers under-pinned by a new regulator…. (all social workers assessed and accredited by 2020).DfE is continuing to develop our plans for the assessment and accreditation of child and family social workers and will consult this autumn. We expect the first social workers will begin assessment in spring 2017. The Children and Social Work Bill includes provision to establish a new regulator for social workers.19DfEEstablish a What Works Centre, with up to £20m of funding, which will be an evidence-based resource to support social workers and work alongside the Chief Social Worker (by end 2016).It is expected that the What Works Centre for Children’s Social Care will be established in 2017 – we are currently considering options for the model and set-up process and carried out early market engagement in June/July 2016 to inform our thinking.28GEO/ HOEstablish an official Government working group to map out current issues, prevalence, initiatives and barriers to addressing gendered online abuse to improve understanding and coordinate the response to online manifestations of VAWG (Dec 2016).In partnership with the Home Office, GEO has established an official Government working group to do this. This work is ongoing.30GEOContinue to ensure victims of revenge pornography have access to bespoke support and advice about their right to have the images removed from websites (review Apr 2017).GEO has funded the Revenge Porn Helpline for a further year to continue its important work supporting victims of revenge porn and working to have such images removed from websites.68DfECarry out an urgent review of Local Safeguarding Children Boards and take forward plans to centralise serious case reviews so that lessons from serious incidents can be learned more quickly and effectively (review completed by Mar 2016).The review was completed in March 2016 and published in May 2016. Provisions to cover the key recommendations on LSCBs and reviews are included in the Children and Social Work Bill. Department officials are in regular contact with their Home Office counterparts to discuss relevant policy issues, including those raised by stakeholders. Such discussions run alongside inter-ministerial meetings, the most recent of which I attended in June.

Schools: Drugs

Dr Tania Mathias: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to increase awareness of the problems caused by illegal drugs in schools among (a) pupils and (b) parents.

Edward Timpson: Effective drug education is essential in supporting prevention, and in addressing the problem of drug misuse. Education plays an important role in helping to ensure that young people have the information they need to make informed, healthy decisions and to keep themselves safe. Drug education is part of national curriculum science at key stage 2 and key stage 3. Provision in this area can be built on through personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education. High quality PSHE can also play a vital role in developing the skills and attributes young people need to identify and manage risk and to stay safe. We believe that teachers are best placed to understand the needs of their pupils and our approach is for schools to develop their own local PSHE programme to reflect the needs of their pupils, drawing on the resources and evidence provided by experts. We want to ensure that all schools are drawing on the best evidence available to deliver their PSHE. In March 2015, the Department published a ‘Personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education: a review of impact and best practice’, which included the best evidence on what works in drugs education. This can be accessed at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pshe-education-a-review-of-impact-and-effective-practice. It is good practice for schools to involve parents when developing their PSHE policy and schools are encouraged to publish their curriculum online. There are also useful resources available to support parents in increasing their knowledge about the risks that pupils face, including those problems caused by illegal drugs.

Schools: Mental Health Services

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mental health support is provided in schools to assist pupils with (a) self-harm and (b) body image related issues.

Edward Timpson: Good mental health and wellbeing is a priority for this Department. We have high aspirations for all children and want them to be able to fulfil their potential both academically and in terms of their mental wellbeing. Schools should take prompt action to deal with cases of self- harm. The Department has taken a range of actions to help schools build a school-wide approach to good mental wellbeing. We have funded guidance and age-appropriate lesson plans on teaching mental health in personal, social, health and economic education, which covers teaching about self-harm and body image. In addition, training for teachers on self-harm is available through MindEd, a free online portal that has been developed to enable all adults working with children and young people to learn more about specific mental health problems and how to support them. We have also revised and updated our blueprint for effective school-based counselling. However, teachers are not mental health specialists. We have contributed to a £3 million joint pilot between schools and children and young people’s mental health services to help schools access specialist support for their pupils, where needed.

Academies: Facilities Agreements

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate she has made of the (a) number and (b) proportion of academies which take part in pooled trade union facility time arrangements.

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions she has had with trade union representatives on academies' fulfilment of their statutory duties in respect of trade unions.

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to encourage academies to take part in pooled trade union facility time arrangements.

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to communicate the benefits of pooled trade union facility time arrangements to academies.

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues to academies on fulfilling their statutory duties on trade union facility time.

Edward Timpson: Funding for trade union facility time is delegated to academies and free schools in the first instance. This gives them the flexibility to manage their own facility time budgets, and as a result the Department for Education holds no systematic evidence on the number and proportion of academies which take part in pooled trade union facility time arrangements.Department for Education officials and ministers hold regular ongoing discussions with trade unions on a number of issues, which have included facility time arrangements in schools.The Department for Education has published on its website advice on trade union facility time in maintained schools and academies:https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/410276/advice_on_trade_union_facility_time_in_schools_090315.pdfThis guidance outlines some of the benefits of facility time and provides examples of how employers, including academy trusts, have managed pooled facility time.

Ministry of Justice

Chelmsford Prison

Sir Simon Burns: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she plans to take in response to the most recent HM Inspectorate of Prisons report on HMP Chelmsford; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Sam Gyimah: HM Inspectorate of Prisons’ report on HMP Chelmsford was published on 16 August this year. We take all recommendations made by the Chief Inspector seriously and the prison is taking action to address the Chief Inspector’s findings. We will produce a detailed action plan within three months responding to all the recommendations in the report. The action plan will be published on the Inspectorate’s web site.

Probate

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what safeguards her Department is providing to enable applications to be filed for Grants of Probate in respect of Estates which do not have sufficient liquid funds to pay fees to Probate Registries.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether the recent proposals to allow Probate Registries to collect fees will reflect the actual cost of administration of the Probate Registries; and whether her Department plans that those fees will more accurately reflect the amount of time expended by staff in the Probate Registries.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether her Department plans that the recent proposals to allow Probate Registries to collect fees will (a) produce a surplus for the Department's income and expenditure and (b) subsidise HM Courts and Tribunals Service.

Dr Phillip Lee: We are carefully considering the responses to our earlier consultation on this issue, and will set out further plans in due course.

Administration of Justice

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what monitoring her Department has carried out to ensure that no one is denied access to justice, regardless of ability to pay for legal representation.

Sir Oliver Heald: We have made sure that legal aid continues to be available in the most serious cases, for example where people’s life, liberty, or housing is at stake or where their children may be taken into care. The operation of, and expenditure on, the legal aid scheme is continually monitored by the Ministry of Justice and the Legal Aid Agency.

Injunctions

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many civil injunctions have been made under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014.

Sir Oliver Heald: The information requested could only be provided at disproportionate costs.

Victims: Females

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans she has to ensure appropriate arrangements are made available to safeguard vulnerable women who participate in criminal justice proceedings.

Dr Phillip Lee: I am committed to making the process of going to court simpler, easier, and more sympathetic to victims. My department’s court reform programme will make sure victims and witnesses, both male and female, continue to be treated with respect throughout the process. For example, the digitisation of the courts services is having a positive impact on victims by providing the ability to give video evidence rather than facing the trauma of attending court.

Prison Sentences: Wales

Mr David Hanson: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many males under 25 years old have been sentenced to immediate custody for (a) indictable offences and (b) all offences in each police force area in Wales in each year since 2010.

Mr Sam Gyimah: The number of male offenders aged under 25 sentenced to immediate custody for indictable only offences in Wales, by police force area, from 2010 to 2015, can be viewed in table 1.Male offenders under 25 sentenced to immediate custody at all courts for indictable only offences, Wales, by police force area, 2010 to 2015 (1)(2)Police forceOutcome201020112012201320142015North WalesSentenced615883794953of which  Immediate custody484974593342Custody rate79%84%89%75%67%79%GwentSentenced666962464242of which  Immediate custody455151373529Custody rate68%74%82%80%83%69%South WalesSentenced204185115120107118of which  Immediate custody16315089917687Custody rate80%81%77%76%71%74%Dyfed PowysSentenced182715151711of which  Immediate custody12221114136Custody rate67%81%73%93%76%55%AllSentenced349339275260215224of which  Immediate custody268272225201157164Custody rate77%80%82%77%73%73%(1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.(3) The proportion of offenders sentenced who are sentenced to immediate custody.Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice. Ref: PQ 44723 The number of male offenders aged under 25 sentenced to immediate custody in Wales, by police force area, from 2010 to 2015, can be viewed in table 2. Male offenders under 25 sentenced to immediate custody at all courts, Wales, by police force area, 2010 to 2015 (1)(2)Police forceOutcome201020112012201320142015North WalesSentenced4,4093,4602,8552,5992,5232,535of which  Immediate custody503419444324311294Custody rate11%12%16%12%12%12%GwentSentenced3,1513,4022,8772,1612,0931,798of which  Immediate custody334328385308311286Custody rate11%10%13%14%15%16%South WalesSentenced8,3997,6246,2586,4346,1055,952of which  Immediate custody1,2291,114915839766750Custody rate15%15%15%13%13%13%Dyfed PowysSentenced2,3522,3372,1782,1141,8461,688of which  Immediate custody15416214312715094Custody rate7%7%7%6%8%6%AllSentenced18,31116,82314,16813,30812,56711,973of which  Immediate custody2,2202,0231,8871,5981,5381,424Custody rate12%12%13%12%12%12%(1) The figures given in the table relate to persons for whom these offences were the principal offences for which they were dealt with. When a defendant has been found guilty of two or more offences it is the offence for which the heaviest penalty is imposed. Where the same disposal is imposed for two or more offences, the offence selected is the offence for which the statutory maximum penalty is the most severe.(2) Every effort is made to ensure that the figures presented are accurate and complete. However, it is important to note that these data have been extracted from large administrative data systems generated by the courts and police forces. As a consequence, care should be taken to ensure data collection processes and their inevitable limitations are taken into account when those data are used.(3) The proportion of offenders sentenced who are sentenced to immediate custody.Source: Justice Statistics Analytical Services - Ministry of Justice. Ref: PQ 44723

Offences against Children

Helen Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, when the Government plans to issue a commencement order for section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 on sexual communication with a child.

Sir Oliver Heald: The Government remains committed to commencing section 67 of the Serious Crime Act 2015 and will do so in due course.

Ministry of Defence

Apache AH-64 Helicopter

Mark Menzies: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, for what reasons his Department has not negotiated a workshare component in its contract to buy Apache helicopters off-the-shelf from Boeing in the US.

Harriett Baldwin: We are buying our new Apache AH-64E helicopters through a Foreign Military Sale with the United States Government. This approach delivers the best possible value for money for the UK taxpayer, allowing us to take advantage of established production lines and the resulting economies of scale, while ensuring we deliver a world-leading capability to our Armed Forces.A number of UK companies have secured work on the global Apache supply chain, delivering products that will be used in our new helicopters and those being delivered to the US Army as well as other international customers. There will also be significant opportunities for UK companies to assist in the provision of support and training services for our new Apache helicopter fleet.Separately, as per the announcement at Farnborough Airshow on 11 July 2016, Boeing are investing significantly in the UK creating more than 100 new jobs.We are buying our new Apache AH-64E helicopters through a Foreign Military Sale with the United States Government. This approach delivers the best possible value for money for the UK taxpayer, allowing us to take advantage of established production lines and the resulting economies of scale, while ensuring we deliver a world-leading capability to our Armed Forces.A number of UK companies have secured work on the global Apache supply chain, delivering products that will be used in our new helicopters and those being delivered to the US Army as well as other international customers. There will also be significant opportunities for UK companies to assist in the provision of support and training services for our new Apache helicopter fleet.Separately, as per the announcement at Farnborough Airshow on 11 July 2016, Boeing are investing significantly in the UK creating more than 100 new jobs.

Trident Submarines

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the supply chain for the Vanguard-successor programme will be procured from the UK.

Harriett Baldwin: The Ministry of Defence does not compile this information and to do so would incur disproportionate cost. While the Department encourages it's key suppliers to sub-contract UK companies in the supply chain, it is their responsibility to select individual sub-contractors.

Frigates

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps is he taking to ensure that the General Purpose Frigate programme leverages the wider supply chain built up for the Queen Elizabeth-class carrier programme and takes advantage of skills in design, engineering, manufacturing, integration, and assurance resident outside BAE Systems.

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he expects that the build facilities selected as the build location for both the Type 26 frigate programme and the General Purpose Frigate will be able to deliver both platforms concurrently.

Harriett Baldwin: We have begun the initial pre-concept work to take forward the new General Purpose Frigate (GPFF) programme outlined in the White Paper 'National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015'. The work is in the very early stages and it is too early to say what either the build strategy or the detailed supply chain arrangements may be.In addition, as part of his work leading the National Shipbuilding Strategy, Sir John Parker will be considering how to balance the GPFF requirement against export opportunities and industrial capacity.

Defence Business Services: Contracts

Mary Glindon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what functions undertaken by Defence Business Services are being considered for inclusion in the Corporate Services Integration and Innovation Provider contract.

Mark Lancaster: The Ministry of Defence is currently examining options for the future of Defence Business Services (DBS) as part of the Future DBS Programme. No final decisions have been taken on whether any elements of DBS current operations will be outsourced. The scope of any potential Corporate Services Integration and Innovation Provider (CSIIP) contract will be confirmed in the event that a decision to outsource is taken.

Bassingbourn Barracks

Heidi Allen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what progress his Department has made on the plans for the use of the Bassingbourn Barracks.

Mark Lancaster: No decision has been made on the future use of Bassingbourn Barracks. The site will be considered as part of the ongoing work of the Estate Optimisation Strategy which is due to report later this year.

Armed Forces: Private Education

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much was spent by his Department on private school fees for children whose parents are stationed (a) in the UK and (b) overseas in the last financial year.

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many of his Department's staff are in receipt of support for private school fees for children whose parents are stationed (a) in the UK and (b) overseas.

Mark Lancaster: Continuity of Education Allowance (CEA) was reviewed as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review 2010. Since then, our reforms have reduced costs by around £30 million per annum along with an associated reduction in claimants. Work continues to further reduce the cost of the allowance, whilst ensuring funding goes to those who really need it, with the latest governance changes taking effect on 1 September 2016. The requested information is provided in the following table. Continuity of Education Allowance, Number of Claimants and Cost (UK and Overseas) by Financial Year (FY)  FY 2015-16UK Claimants3,040Overseas Claimants630Total Claimants3,670UK Cost (£ million)67Overseas Cost (£ million)13.8Total Cost (£ million)80.8Note: all numbers are rounded

Type 26 Frigates

Chris Stephens: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the effect of changes to the timetable in the procurement of Type 26 Frigates on (a) jobs, (b) apprenticeships and (c) skills in the affected shipyards in the next six months.

Harriett Baldwin: I refer the hon. Member to the answer my predecessor (Philip Dunne) gave on 27 June 2016 to Question 905474 to the hon. Member for Rutherglen and Hamilton West (Margaret Ferrier).



Type 26 Frigates
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Armed Forces: Otterburn

Mrs Anne-Marie Trevelyan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people have been (a) killed and (b) injured as a result of accidents during exercises at the army training ground at Otterburn in each of the last 10 years.

Mark Lancaster: In the period 1 January 2006 to 4 September 2016, there has been one death whilst on training or exercise at Otterburn training area. The death occurred in 2016.The table below shows the recorded number of personnel injured on training or exercise at Otterburn in the period 1 April 2008 to 30 June 2016 reported through the MOD Health and Safety and Casualty Notification process. These totals may not include all injuries, as some minor injuries may have been treated immediately and not reported. Reporting of injuries is improving, and usage of the training area has increased since 2015. YearNumbers2008-09~2009-10262010-11262011-12182012-13422013-14582014-15542015-161192016-172~Total357  Source: Notification of Casualties (NOTICAS); MOD Health and Safety databasesFootnotes:1.Personnel includes Regular personnel, Reservist Personnel, Cadets and Civilians.2.Data only available between 1 April 2016 to 30 June 2016.Data presented as "~" has been suppressed in accordance with Defence Statistics rounding policy.

Department for Work and Pensions

Social Security Benefits: Medical Records

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether welfare claimants receive refunds for postage and other costs incurred in obtaining a doctor's certificate as required by his Department and ensuring its safe transmission by post.

Caroline Nokes: For DWP purposes a statement of fitness for work (SOFFW) can be obtained from a GP at no cost to the claimant. DWP does not refund postage or other costs associated with obtaining a SOFFW. Claimants are notified when making a claim that there is a requirement to supply a SOFFW to meet the ESA entitlement conditions. To support this DWP provides options for postage, either a Freepost Licence code or a pre-paid envelope at no cost to the claimant. These are handled by Royal Mail and subject to their governance and safeguarding arrangements.

Pension Funds

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent representations he has received on section 75 employer debt in pension funds; and if he will make a statement.

Richard Harrington: Last year, we undertook a call for evidence on issues around section 75 debt and employers in multi-employer schemes and have been actively considering the responses. More recently, we have been engaging direct with interested parties as we seek to ensure the appropriate balance between protection for members and burdens on employers.

Disability: Employment

Dr Tania Mathias: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to support the parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities to enable them to find employment.

Penny Mordaunt: Where parents of disabled children would like to go out to work, DWP wants to make it easier for them to do so. Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches provide personalised support, tailored to meet the needs and requirements of the claimant, helping them to find work that fits with their individual circumstances. Work Coaches will also endeavour to support the claimant to overcome barriers that might make finding a job more difficult and will work with the individual to identify the most appropriate help available. Under Universal Credit, extra financial support is available to parents for each dependent child who is disabled. Universal Credit also provides working parents with help with childcare costs. In April 2016, we extended this support to cover up to 85% of the eligible costs of childcare. Parents of disabled children also receive help with childcare through the free childcare entitlements. All three and four year olds are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare per week, and we are extending this free entitlement to 30 hours per week for working parents of three and four year olds. In addition, two year olds are entitled to 15 hours of free childcare if they have a current statement of special educational need or an education, health and care plan, or receive Disability Living Allowance. The Department for Education is consulting on additional funding for children with special education needs and disabilities as part of its consultation on early years funding which closes on 22 September 2016. Working parents of disabled children will also benefit from extra support under Tax-Free Childcare which will be introduced from early 2017. This will provide Government support with childcare costs of up to £4,000 per year for a disabled child up to the age of 17.

Pension Funds

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many partnerships have been adversely affected by section 75 employer debt in pension funds; how many such partnerships have been (a) converted to limited liability and (b) declared insolvent; and what advice his Department has provided to partnerships facing potential section 75 employer debts.

Richard Harrington: We do not have any information about numbers of employers who may be liable for a section 75 debt. This is a matter between the employer and the scheme. The Department does not provide advice to any employers about potential section 75 debts. The Pensions Regulator provides a range of information and guidance on all matters related to pensions scheme funding. However, employers or former employers should take their own professional and legal advice about their liabilities.

Mining: Industrial Health and Safety

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the number of health and safety incidents which have taken place in the mining industry when employees were working on shift patterns of more than (a) eight, (b) 10 and (c) 12 hours.

Penny Mordaunt: The Health and Safety Executive does not hold such information.

State Retirement Pensions: British Nationals Abroad

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential implications for his Department's policy on the uprating of the pensions of British people living abroad of the UK leaving the EU.

Michelle Donelan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential effect of the UK leaving the EU on the uprating of British pensions for UK state pension holders living abroad.

Richard Harrington: We are about to begin negotiations for Britain’s future relationship with Europe and it would be wrong to set out unilateral positions in advance. At every step of these negotiations we will work to ensure the best possible outcome for the British people.

Mining: Industrial Health and Safety

Tom Blenkinsop: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what information his Department holds on the relationship between staffing levels and health and safety incidents in mines.

Penny Mordaunt: During its interventions, HSE assesses how dutyholders provide for and manage the provision of safety-critical competence at mines. This includes assessing whether staff with responsibility for safety-critical tasks are sufficiently experienced and resourced.

Local Housing Allowance: Supported Housing

Mr David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if the Government will remove the local housing allowance cap for people living in supported housing; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Nokes: The Secretary of State has confirmed that the Government expects to make an announcement on the way forward for supported housing in early autumn.

Housing Benefit: Supported Housing

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his oral contribution of 20 July 2016, Official Report, column 849, when his Department will make an announcement on the exemption of specialist supported housing from changes to housing benefit.

Caroline Nokes: The Secretary of State has confirmed that the Government expects to make an announcement on the way forward for supported housing in early autumn.

Housing Benefit: Supported Housing

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his oral contribution of 20 July 2016, Official Report, column 849, what (a) meetings and (b) discussions Ministers of his Department have had with stakeholders on the exemption of specialist supported housing from changes to housing benefit.

Caroline Nokes: Ministers in DWP and DCLG have met and continue to meet with stakeholders representing local authorities, supported accommodation, commissioners, and all categories of supported housing providers, be they charities, housing associations, voluntary organisations or from the commercial sector.

Domestic Violence: Refuges

Dr Roberta Blackman-Woods: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate his Department has made of the number of domestic violence refuges that will be potentially close as a result of changes to housing benefit.

Caroline Nokes: The Department for Work and Pensions has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

State Retirement Pensions: Northern Ireland

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will discuss with the Northern Ireland Minister for Communities the calls by the Women Against State Pension Inequality for transitional state pension arrangements for women in Northern Ireland born in the 1950s.

Richard Harrington: DWP Ministers have regular meetings with ministers from devolved administrations where current areas of interest are discussed. In relation to transitional arrangements for the equalisation of State Pension age, the government’s position is clear; equalisation of women’s State Pension age with men and the subsequent increases in the State Pension age will continue as currently scheduled, in line with the legislation.

State Retirement Pensions: Northern Ireland

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many women in (a) Northern Ireland and (b) each parliamentary constituency in Northern Ireland, born on or after 6 April 1951, have been affected by the equalisation of the state pension age.

Richard Harrington: Women born between 6 April 1950 and 5 April 1953 were affected by State Pension age equalisation under the Pensions Act 1995. The Pensions Act 2011 accelerated the equalisation of State Pension age, and included transitional arrangements limiting State Pension age delays, affecting women born between 6 April 1953 and 5 December 1953. It also brought forward the increase in State Pension age from 65 to 66 which affected women born between 6 December 1953 and 5 April 1960. Information on the numbers affected by constituent country or parliamentary constituency is not held by the Department for Work and Pensions. However, the most recent population breakdowns for Northern Ireland and its parliamentary constituencies by age can be found here:http://www.nisra.gov.uk/demography/default.asp41.htm

Social Rented Housing: Housing Benefit

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of people above pensionable age and living in general needs accommodation who will be deemed to be under-occupying their home and will have their housing benefit reduced in accordance with their household size as opposed to their property size as a result of the cap on housing benefit for social housing tenants to the Local Housing Allowance Rate; and what the average loss incurred by this group of people will be.

Caroline Nokes: This measure will be introduced in April 2018, where new tenancies have been taken out or existing tenancies renewed from 1 April 2016 (or 1 April 2017 for supported housing). Full impact and equality impact assessments will be undertaken in due course.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Living Wage

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many people working for her Department or its executive agencies on a (a) directly employed, (b) agency or (c) outsourced basis are paid less than the living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation; and how many of those people are employed on zero-hours contracts.

George Eustice: There are no direct employees paid less than the Living Wage in core-Defra, Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA), Rural Payments Agency (RPA) and Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD). There are 2 direct employees currently paid less than the Living Wage in the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (CEFAS), none of which are employed on zero-hours contracts. One is an apprentice and the other is about to have their salary increased to the Living Wage rate. There are no employment agency staff paid less than the Living Wage in core-Defra, APHA, and VMD. There are 95 employment agency staff paid less than the Living Wage in RPA. None are employed on zero-hours contracts. All are paid at least the National Living Wage as defined by the Government.

School Milk

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent representations her Department has received on the future of the school milk subsidy scheme since the outcome of the EU referendum.

George Eustice: Following the outcome of the EU Referendum we continue to receive views across the range of the Department’s responsibilities. Until exit negotiations are concluded, the UK remains a full member of the EU and current EU funding arrangements will continue unchanged. The UK currently claims around £3.5 million a year under the current EU milk scheme, compared with the much larger nursery milk scheme for children under 5 which is funded by UK Health and Education departments, and is worth £67m a year.

Livestock: Antibiotics

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what targets are in place to reduce antibiotic use in the husbandry of farm animals.

George Eustice: In line with the recent recommendations of the Independent Review on AMR, Defra has committed to reducing the average across all food-producing species to 50mg/kg by 2018. Future reductions will be underpinned by industry working collaboratively with Government to set long-term, sustainable, sector-specific targets by 2017.

Marine Environment: Microplastics

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she plans to take to reduce the concentration of microplastics in the marine environment.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: On 3 September 2016 the Government announced plans to ban the sale and manufacture of cosmetics and personal care products containing microbeads where these are capable of harming the marine environment. Our plans will be informed by a formal consultation later this year. At the same time, evidence will be gathered on the extent of the environmental impacts of microbeads found in other products before considering what more can be done in future to tackle other plastics, for example microfibres, which enter the marine environment.Given the trans-boundary nature of marine litter, we will also continue to work with other countries in the Oslo and Paris Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the North East Atlantic (OSPAR) to address marine litter, including microplastics.In December 2015, the UK published its Marine Strategy Part Three: UK programme of measures. This sets out a comprehensive set of measures to address marine litter. Some measures address microplastics directly; others contribute indirectly by removing, or avoiding the release of, larger plastic particles, preventing their degradation into microplastics.

Seagulls

Alex Chalk: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential effect of removing the protected status of seagulls in urban areas on local authorities' ability to manage seagull populations more effectively.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Defra has not undertaken such an assessment. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 already allows for the control of gulls, under licence from Natural England, in the interest of public health and safety or to prevent disease. Local authorities, businesses and individuals are also able to take action to manage urban gull populations e.g. using bins with secured lids, ensuring domestic animals are not fed outside and that streets are clear of litter.

Birds of Prey

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the press release by Natural England of 29 July 2016 to issue a licence for buzzard control, whether she plans to issue further such licences during the current Parliament.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Responsibility for issuing licences for buzzard control is a matter for Natural England. All wild birds, including buzzards, are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which makes it illegal to take, injure, or kill a wild bird, or to disturb them while nesting and protects their nests and eggs except under the authority of a licence. Section 16 of the Act gives provision for Natural England to grant a licence to manage wildlife for a number of reasons including preventing serious damage to livestock. Natural England considers each application on its merits but would not license any activity which would adversely affect the conservation status of a species.

Lynx

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what her Department's policy is on rewilding lynxes.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 prohibits the release of species that are not ordinarily resident in the wild, without a licence granted by Natural England. If a licence application for the reintroduction of lynx is received, Natural England would consider it carefully in accordance with appropriate international guidelines, taking account of socio-economic impacts and the impact on the welfare of the animals themselves.

Sewers

Mrs Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to prevent the pollution of urban waterways caused by the misconnection of household drainage pipes.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: I recognise that misconnection of household drainage pipes can cause problems in urban areas. Defra and the Environment Agency have been working with water companies to highlight and target areas of greatest risk. Water companies that have a greater risk of pollution have also allocated resources for dealing with misconnections over the next five years. Defra and the Environment Agency are working with Water and Sewerage Companies and the Consumer Council for Water through a National Misconnections Strategy Group (NMSG) to develop good practice for the industry, as well as looking at measures to limit misconnections being made in the first place. We see that continued proactive communication direct with customers, white goods manufacturers and trade organisations, is a key preventative tool.

Countryside Stewardship Scheme

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will estimate the proportion of Countryside Stewardship schemes that will be signed-off before the Autumn Statement.

George Eustice: The application deadline for Countryside Stewardship multi-annual agreements is 30 September. Natural England will be looking to make offers to all successful applicants before the Autumn Statement.

Local Air Quality Management

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the use of air quality management areas by local authorities.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Air quality has improved significantly in recent decades and we are working at local, national and international levels to continue those improvements. The UK currently meets legal limits for almost all pollutants; however, reducing levels for nitrogen dioxide (NO2) remains the most challenging.Local authorities (LAs) have opportunities to improve air quality for the protection of public health and the environment through decisions they make on land use planning, permitting, roads and air quality management areas (AQMAs). Across the UK, 259 LAs declared 715 AQMAs since 1999. Most AQMAs in the UK are in urban areas and have been established to address the contribution to air pollution from traffic emissions of NO2 or particulate matter (PM10). Details of the current AQMAs declared by LAs, broken down by region and pollutant, are set out in the table below.  RegionTotal LAsNumber of LAs with AQMAs For NO2 For PM10For SO2England (outside London)294193497386London333333290Scotland321425211Wales22103710N. Ireland1192070TOTAL 393259612967

Nature Conservation: EU Law

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make it her policy to incorporate in domestic law the objectives of the (a) EU Habitats Directive and (b) EU Birds Directive.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Government is considering the impacts of the decision to leave the EU, including future arrangements for existing legislation. The Government remains committed to conserving our natural environment, building on the UK’s long history of wildlife protection. This includes a manifesto commitment to produce a 25 Year Plan for the Environment.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her Department's policies on badger culls of the findings of the research paper, Badgers prefer cattle pasture but avoid cattle: implications for bovine tuberculosis control, published in August 2016.

George Eustice: Our comprehensive strategy to eradicate bovine TB includes tighter cattle controls, good biosecurity and badger control in areas where the disease is widespread. This new research, which was funded by Defra, provides further evidence that badgers and cattle contribute to the spread of bovine TB in areas where the disease is rife. Previous research has concluded that TB spreads within and between populations of badgers and cattle and that spread from badgers to cattle is an important cause of herd breakdowns in areas where the disease is widespread. Our strategy does not presume that direct contact between badgers and cattle is the most important route of TB spread between the two species and the new research does not provide evidence against the effectiveness of badger control. Biosecurity guidance promoted by Defra addresses all forms of TB spread and focuses on indirect contact between badgers and cattle in particular, as this type of contact has previously been identified as significant. This new research confirms this.

Home Office

EU Nationals

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when negotiations with EU member states on the future of EU citizens in the UK will begin.

Mr Robert Goodwill: When the Prime Minister decides to trigger the formal process for the UK’s departure from the EU, the issue of the future status of EU nationals in the UK will form part of those negotiations.

Asylum: Families

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications have been identified for consideration by expert personnel deployed by her Department to Greece to support the Greek Dublin Unit and EASO under the Dublin III regulation on family unity since May 2016; and how many such applicants have been transferred to the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Holding answer received on 05 September 2016



Home Office staff seconded to the Greek Government and the European Asylum Support Office are there to support the overall asylum system in Greece and improve the Dublin process. Two applicants have arrived in the UK since May 2016.Providing refugees with access to clear, detailed and coherent information is the responsibility of the Greek authorities. The UK believes that member states should meet their international obligations and provide due process and adequate care to those seeking protection within their territories.The Commission Implementing Regulation No 118/2014 clearly sets out the obligations for Member States to provide an information leaflet for applicants for international protection, including a specific leaflet for unaccompanied children. Following the EU-Turkey agreement and discussions with the European Commission and the Greek Government, the UK has offered a further 75 expert personnel to help with the processing and administration of migrants in reception centres, act as interpreters, provide medical support and bolster our existing team assisting the Commission to ensure effective and efficient coordination.

Mentally Disordered Offenders: Homicide

John Pugh: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many murders have been committed by people in receipt of psychiatric treatment or deemed by a court at the time of trial to require psychiatric treatment for a clinical illness in England and Wales in each of the last five years.

Brandon Lewis: The available information for England and Wales from the Home Office Homicide Index is shown in the attached table and shows the numbers of homicide offences where the court decides that, acting on medical evidence, the suspect should be the subject of a hospital order.The data does not specifically identify those suspects requiring psychiatric treatment for a clinical illness.Data is based on the number of offenders whose court proceedings have been completed. Due to the time it can take for cases to pass through the criminal justice system, there is likely to be an increase in the number of people convicted of homicide and given a hospital order for recent years when updated figures are published in 2017.In addition, the National Confidential Inquiry, based at Manchester University, publishes an annual report on suicide and homicide of people with mental illness, using information from the Homicide Index and Hospital Trust records. The most recent report is available at:http://research.bmh.manchester.ac.uk/cmhs/research/centreforsuicideprevention/nci/reports/



Table - Murders Committed
(Excel SpreadSheet, 22 KB)

Refugees: Syria

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when the Government plans to publish a comprehensive plan for resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK by 2020.

Mr Robert Goodwill: We intend to resettle up to 20,000 Syrians in need of protection during this Parliament. We will continue to work closely with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to identify appropriate cases, prioritising the most vulnerable. The numbers resettled in a particular period will depend on a range of factors including the flow of referrals from UNHCR in the field and the availability of suitable accommodation and care packages in the UK. We will manage the flows based on need and in support of the wellbeing of the people and communities involved, rather than rushing to meet arbitrary targets. However, we are clear that we want to help as many people as we can as quickly as possible.

Refugees: Syria

Alison McGovern: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress the Government has made towards its target of resettling 20,000 Syrian refugees in the UK by 2020.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office is committed to publishing data in an orderly way as part of the regular quarterly Immigration Statistics, in line with the Code of Practice for Official Statistics. Latest statistics published on 25 August confirmed that a total of a total of 2,898 Syrians have been resettled under the scheme since it began, 2,646 of these arriving since 1 October 2015.

Visas: Nepal

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of extending visa-free access to the UK to Nepalese citizens.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The UK keeps its visa system under regular review. There are currently no plans to change the visa requirements for Nepalese citizens.

Graduates: EU Nationals

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has made to allow students from other EU member states to stay in the UK to live and work after graduation following the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals already living in the UK, and the only circumstances in which that wouldn’t be possible is if British citizens’ rights in other EU Member States were not protected in return.

Visas: Nigeria

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department plans to make an assessment of the potential merits of extending visa-free access to the UK to Nigerian citizens.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The UK keeps its visa system under regular review. There are currently no plans to change the visa requirements for Nigerian citizens.

Steroid Drugs: Misuse

Amanda Solloway: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if the Government will take steps to tackle the abuse of anabolic steroids for image and performance enhancing purposes; and if she will bring forward legislative proposals to make the recreational use of such drugs illegal.

Brandon Lewis: Information and advice about anabolic steroids, including the health risks associated with using anabolic steroids, is provided by Talk to FRANK and NHS Choices.In July 2015, Public Health England published advice for local authorities on commissioning services to prevent and treat harms caused by image and performance enhancing drugs (http://www.nta.nhs.uk/uploads/providing-effective-services-for-people-who-use-image-and-performance-enhancing-drugs.pdf).Specified anabolic steroids are controlled under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 as class C drugs. The Government has no current plans to review the legislative framework on anabolic steroids to include the possession offence. We are keeping the situation under review working closely with our independent experts, the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs.

EU Nationals

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it is her policy that EU citizens who have acquired permanent residence under Free Movement Directive 2004/38 will automatically retain their permanent residence in the UK after the UK has left the EU.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals already living in the UK, and the only circumstances in which that wouldn’t be possible is if British citizens’ rights in other EU Member States were not protected in return.

Calais: Migrant Camps

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her French counterpart on the conditions at the refugee camp in Calais; and what assistance the UK is providing to improve living standards at that camp.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Riot Control Weapons

Imran Hussain: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with her foreign counterparts on the use of pellet guns and other non-lethal weapons for crowd control purposes.

Brandon Lewis: The Home Office has not had any discussions with foreign counterparts on the use of pellet guns and other non-lethal weapons for crowd control purposes.

Asylum: Children

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many child refugees have been assisted to enter the UK in the past year (a) in total and (b) who have come from Calais to join family living in the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

UN Refugees and Migrants Summit

Patrick Grady: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the Government's commitments on the number of refugees to be granted access to the UK at the UN General Assembly Summit on Refugees and Migrants in September 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Children

Mr David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many unaccompanied minors have had their take charge request accepted in (a) Calais, (b) Greece and (c) Italy in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Children

Mr David Burrowes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average time was for the family reunification process to be completed in (a) Calais, (b) Greece and (c) Italy in the latest period for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Security Guards: Licensing

Greg Mulholland: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Security Industry Authority's processing of license applications.

Sarah Newton: The Home Department receives regular performance updates from the SIA, including information around the processing of licence applications. In the last financial year the SIA met its performance target for processing licence applications. We are however aware of some delays in the issuing of SIA licences following the launch of its new IT system in July 2016. The SIA have introduced a series of measures to address the issues and we will continue to monitor its performance in this area.

Begging and Vagrancy

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many border staff were employed exclusively on checking the immigration status of beggars in (a) Westminster and (b) the UK; and how many of those checked were (i) illegal immigrants, (ii) committing criminal acts and (iii) deported in each of the last six months for which figures are available.

Mr Robert Goodwill: This information is not held on Home Office systems.

Overseas Students

Mr Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many former overseas students of the Cambridge College of Learning have been granted (a) indefinite leave to remain and (b) UK citizenship since that College's closure.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Information on how many former overseas students of the Cambridge College of Learning would have submitted an indefinite leave to remain or UK citizenship application is not aggregated in national reporting systems. This information could only be obtained by a manual case by case review to collate the data, which would be disproportionately expensive.

Smuggling: Firearms

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many disguised stun weapons have been seized at the UK border in each year since 2011-12.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The information is not readily available and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.We are able to identify seizures of stun weapons from our last data sets, but can not easily identify those which have been disguised. In order to obtain this information, we would have to examine individual records to establish which stun guns were disguised.

Overseas Students

Mr Dominic Raab: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many former overseas students of the Cambridge College of Learning were (a) deported and (b) not deported following that College's closure.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office’s database that is used to record sponsorship data was introduced after the Cambridge College of Learning closed down.We are, therefore, unable to obtain details of the college’s former overseas students.

Asylum: Appeals

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people refused asylum under the non-suspensive appeal policy were removed from the UK in the first six months of 2016; and how many such people (a) lodged an appeal and (b) successfully appealed against the refusal of their asylum application.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

International Modern Slavery Fund

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the (a) specific functions and (b) scope of the recently established International Modern Slavery Fund will be.

Sarah Newton: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Mobile Phones: Proof of Identity

Dr Tania Mathias: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the (a) potential benefits to security and (b) viability of effective implementation of requiring proof of identification prior to purchase of a SIM card.

Sarah Newton: Holding answer received on 07 September 2016



This issue was considered in detail by an expert group comprising representatives of law enforcement, the security and intelligence agencies and communication service providers following the terrorist attacks in London in July 2005. The experts’ findings remain valid. They concluded that the registration of ownership of mobile telephones would not deliver any significant new benefits to the investigatory process.Mobile phones are not the only devices capable of making calls or sending messages. Many laptops, computers, popular MP3 players and games consoles also support the sending of messages and phone calls. These devices are increasingly being used for communications. It would be necessary to include these other devices in any mandatory registration scheme.Separately, the person who buys the device is not necessarily the person who will use it. Mobile phones are often sold or given to family members or friends which would mean that such information would quickly become out of date.Furthermore, those who were keen to avoid providing details would still find ways to circumvent the scheme, such as purchasing or registering phones under false identities.

Asylum: EU Law

Thangam Debbonaire: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many asylum applications have been transferred to another EU country under the Dublin III Regulation in the first six months of 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Police: Cameras

Craig Whittaker: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what progress the West Yorkshire police force has made on piloting and evaluating the use by police officers of body-worn cameras.

Brandon Lewis: We know that the majority of forces in England and Wales use Body Worn Video (BWV) to some extent. The deployment of BWV is an operational decision for chief officers. However, we are aware that West Yorkshire Police are operating a phased rollout of body worn video cameras to frontline officers following an initial pilot, with officers in the Bradford and Calderdale districts already equipped.

Asylum

Alex Salmond: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure the safety of refugees coming to the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office works closely with local authorities to support resettled refugees as they arrive in their areas. Local authorities have a duty to protect individuals in their care – this includes resettled Syrians.The Care Act 2014 put adult safeguarding on a legal footing and established that each local authority must set up Adult Safeguarding Boards with multi-agency membership including local partners and the Police. Local agencies, including the police and health services, also have a duty under section 11 of the Children Act 2004 to ensure that they consider the need to safeguard and promote the welfare of children when carrying out their functions.In addition, upon arrival, the local authority assign a caseworker to every resettled family/individual, who maintains close contact with the family for the first 12 months to support their well being and integration. The small number of unaccompanied minors being resettled will be placed into local authority care where their safety needs, along with other needs, will be met via the resettling authority’s children’s social care service.

UN Refugees and Migrants Summit

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government plans to make a commitment at the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants on 19 and 20 September 2016 to provide more safe and legal routes for refugees to find protection in the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Children

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to accelerate family reunification for unaccompanied refugee children in Europe.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Asylum: Social Security Benefits

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she plans to respond to the concluding observations and recommendations of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on the UK's sixth periodic report in relation to welfare support for asylum-seekers; and if she will make a statement.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The report recommends that the cash allowance provided to destitute asylum seekers, currently set at £36.95 per week, is raised. The level of the allowance is reviewed regularly to ensure that it is sufficient to cover essential living needs of individual asylum seekers and we will announce the result of this year’s review later this year.

UN Refugees and Migrants Summit

Catherine McKinnell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether the Government will be represented at the Leaders' Summit on Refugees to be hosted by President Obama on 20 September 2016.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Immigration Controls: Railways

Stephen Timms: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the effect of the UK leaving the EU on maintaining current immigration controls for passengers using international high-speed rail services to and from the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

UN Refugees and Migrants Summit

Mr Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, who will represent the Government at the UN General Assembly meeting on refugees and migrants on 19 and 20 September 2016; and if the Government will make a commitment at that meeting to creating safe, legal routes for refugees to enter the UK.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Crime

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of crime in (a) North Swindon, (b) Wiltshire and (c) England in each of the last six years.

Brandon Lewis: According to the independent Crime Survey for England and Wales, crime has fallen by 6% nationally in the last year and by well over a quarter since June 2010. Families, communities and property across the country are safer as a result.The numbers of crimes recorded by the police in the Swindon Community Safety Partnership area (which includes the constituency of North Swindon), in Wiltshire and in England have all risen in the last year. The Office for National Statistics has been clear that recent rises in police recorded crime reflect both improvements in crime recording practice and a greater willingness of victims to come forward, particularly to report domestic abuse and sexual offences.

Radicalism and Religiously Aggravated Offences

Julie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to ensure an effective balance between its policies on tackling radicalisation and protecting people at risk of Islamaphobic attacks.

Sarah Newton: Holding answer received on 07 September 2016



The Government is determined to tackle hate crime and extremism wherever it occurs.The Government’s Prevent strategy, published in 2011, explicitly tackles all forms of terrorism. That includes protecting individuals who are at risk from far right and Neo-nazi extremism, as well as those vulnerable to Islamist extremism.Prevent is about safeguarding people who are at risk of radicalisation. Prevent does not target a specific faith or ethnic group. Rather, Prevent protects those who are targeted by terrorist recruiters. Currently the greatest threat comes from terrorist recruiters inspired by Daesh. Our Prevent programme will necessarily reflect this by prioritising support for vulnerable British Muslims, and working in partnership with British Muslim communities and civil society groups.The Prevent programme is implemented in a proportionate manner that takes into account the level of risk in any given area or institution. In some areas the risk of far right extremism may be significant and we would expect in those circumstances for Prevent activity to focus on the far right threat.Far right extremism often brings with it the threat of anti-Muslim or antisemitic attacks. We have a strong record of action against Islamophobia and antisemitism and deplore all religious or racially motivated crimes.We strongly condemn the increase in attacks on Muslims that have been seen in this country in recent years. We know the majority of people in United Kingdom join our condemnation, and we have seen great examples of individuals and communities standing together to tackle this hatred.Muslims make an enormous contribution to British society. They are all too often the victims of hatred and intolerance in this country and overseas. This Government is determined to act to protect British Muslims.The United Kingdom has in place one of the strongest legislative frameworks in the world to protect communities from hostility, violence and bigotry. We will keep it under review to ensure it remains effective and appropriate in the face of new and emerging threats. We also published a new Cross-Government Hate Crime Action Plan on 26 July which will drive forward action against all forms of hate crime, including anti-Muslim hatred. This will be taken forward in partnership with communities to ensure we target the harm that hate crime causes.

Migration

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of excluding Scotland from the scope of the net migration target.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Our immigration system is designed to work for the whole of the UK and surveys show that people in Scotland want to see net migration reduced. We have a Scotland-specific Shortage Occupation List to accommodate skills shortages which are specific to Scotland. Applying substantially different immigration rules to different parts of the UK would complicate the immigration system, harming its integrity, and cause confusion for applicants and difficulties for employers who need the flexibility to deploy their staff to other parts of the UK.

Asylum: Children

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much funding to support unaccompanied asylum seeking children was provided to each (a) local authority and (b) gateway authority in (i) 2013-14, (ii) 2014-15, (iii) 2015-16, and (iv) 2016-17.

Mr Robert Goodwill: The Home Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

EU Nationals

Dr Paul Monaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with people from other EU countries living in the UK since the EU referendum on their right to live in the UK after the UK's exit from the EU.

Mr Robert Goodwill: Government Ministers and officials engage with a wide range of stakeholders.The Prime Minister has been clear that she wants to protect the status of EU nationals here. The only circumstances in which that would not be possible are if British citizens’ rights in other EU Member States were not protected in return.

HM Treasury

Regional Planning and Development: EU Grants and Loans

Diana Johnson: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has held with the European Commission on whether the Commission will honour the full amounts of financial grants awarded for regional development in the most recent spending round.

Mr David Gauke: The UK will continue to have all of the rights, obligations and benefits that membership brings, including receiving European funding, up until the point we leave the EU. The UK has not commenced negotiations for what happens after we leave the EU. At every step of the upcoming negotiations we will work to ensure the best possible outcome for the British people.

ARM: SoftBank

Daniel Zeichner: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with (a) ARM, (b) SoftBank and (c) representatives of those companies on SoftBank's takeover of ARM prior to that takeover being announced to the public.

Daniel Zeichner: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, on what date he was made aware of the potential takeover of ARM by SoftBank.

Mr David Gauke: In line with the practice of successive administrations details of ministerial discussions are not routinely disclosed.

Company Accounts: Multinational Companies

Caroline Flint: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the contribution of the hon. Member for South West Hertfordshire on 28 June 2016, HC Deb, column 161, what his policy is on whether there is a minimum number of countries that need to be signed up to public country-by-country reporting before the UK will introduce such reporting.

Jane Ellison: For public country-by-country reporting to be effective, there needs to be sufficient international agreement. There needs to be a breadth of information from UK and foreign headquartered multinationals so that the full picture of multinationals' activities, profits and tax paid is shown to the public. A multilateral agreement is key to the success of the OECD country-by-country reporting model, the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, and the automatic exchange of company information. These actions show that a multilateral approach to greater tax transparency is achievable and the Government will continue to discuss this with international partners.

LIBOR: Fines

Richard Benyon: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much remains in the Libor fines fund; and whether any changes have been made to the criteria for charities to apply for monies from that fund.

Mr David Gauke: Full details of LIBOR fines awarded to date by the FCA can be found at the following link: https://www.the-fca.org.uk/markets/benchmarks/enforcement All LIBOR fines received between 2012 and the end of the last parliament (May 2015) have been allocated. Details of LIBOR grants awarded in this parliament can be found at the following links: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/443232/50325_Summer_Budget_15_Web_Accessible.pdfpages 81 - 82. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/479749/52229_Blue_Book_PU1865_Web_Accessible.pdfpages 114 - 115. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/508193/HMT_Budget_2016_Web_Accessible.pdfpages 93 - 95. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/libor-fines-to-be-used-to-support-military-charities-and-royal-voluntary-service  2. In 2012, the former Chancellor announced that “the proceeds from LIBOR fines would be used to support Military and Emergency Services charities and other related good causes that represent those that demonstrate the very best of values”. The Chancellor has invited applications that fall within the scope above for consideration at the Autumn Statement. Full details of the scheme can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/libor-funding-applications

Revenue and Customs: Scotland

Ian Murray: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment the Government has made of the potential effect of the planned closure of HM Revenue and Customs offices in Scotland on the administration of the Scottish rate of income tax.

Ian Murray: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) offices in Scotland the Government plans to close by 2020; and what changes there will be in the total number of HMRC employees working in Scotland.

Jane Ellison: HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) plans to create two new regional centres in Scotland in Glasgow and Edinburgh in 2019-20, accommodating between 5,700 and 6,300 full time equivalent posts by 2025. As work is transferred to the regional centres HMRC plans to close ten offices in Scotland by 2020. The changes are part of a ten-year transformation programme to deliver better public services at lower cost to the taxpayer. Scotland has 12 per cent of HMRC’s total workforce and that will not change with modernisation. HMRC believes that its responsibilities will be unaffected by the changes. Staff are receiving guidance and training to deal with any enquiries relating to the Scottish rate of income tax, as with any other tax issues.

Insurance

Ian C. Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the average annual household insurance premiums paid by (a) existing customers and (b) new customers in each of the last five years.

Ian C. Lucas: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an estimate of the average car insurance premiums paid by (a) existing customers and (b) new customers in each of the last five years.

Simon Kirby: The Government does not hold information on average annual household and motor insurance premiums. There are a range of estimates of the cost of insurance published by industry, including the Association of British Insurers (ABI), the AA and Confused.com. The ABI’s data is available at: https://www.abi.org.uk/News/Industry-data-updates. The Government encourages consumers to shop around for the most suitable cover at the best price. To this end, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) recently published rules and guidance requiring insurers to disclose the previous year’s premium on renewal notices for general insurance products including motor and home insurance. The measures also require insurers to identify consumers who will be renewing with them for the fourth consecutive time and give them a prescribed shopping around message. The rules will come into force in April 2017.

Environment Protection: VAT

Lisa Nandy: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department plans to comply with the European Court of Justice judgment of 2015 on VAT on green products such as solar panels.

Jane Ellison: The UK has applied a five per cent reduced rate of VAT to installations of 11 different types of energy saving materials since 2001. That reduced rate remains in place and is unchanged. Following the judgment by the Court of Justice of the European Union, the government published a consultation on this particularly complex issue. We are currently considering the responses to this consultation.

Revenue and Customs: Concentrix

Louise Haigh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many performance failures have been incurred by contractors under the HM Revenue and Customs Benefits and Credits, Error and Fraud Adding Capacity 444 contract between SYNNEX-Concentrix UK Limited and HM Revenue and Customs.

Louise Haigh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the contractors commission to date arising from HM Revenue and Customs' contract with SYNNEX-Concentrix relating to error and fraud.

Louise Haigh: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the number of cases of each risk type completed by SYNNEX-Concentrix under its contract with HM Revenue and Customs relating to error and fraud.

Mr David Gauke: Since mid-October 2015 there has been 120 instances where Concentrix has not fully met the performance standards set out in the contract out of a total of 1625. The estimate of commission paid for the HM Revenue and Customs' contract with SYNNEX-Concentrix relating to error and fraud is £15.8m since the start of the contract to date. SYNNEX-Concentrix under its contract with HM Revenue and Customs have completed around 308,718 undeclared partner cases, 198,422 work and hours cases and 152,771 child care cases.

Economic Situation

Andrew Bridgen: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, which economists advised the Government on the short-term economic effects of the UK voting to leave the EU; and which of those economists forecast that there would be a reduction in UK GDP in any quarter of 2016.

Mr David Gauke: HM Treasury’s published analysis of the immediate economic impact of a vote to leave the EU benefitted from a review by Professor SirCharles Bean, former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England, acting in a personal capacity as an academic consultant to HM Treasury. However, all contents and conclusions from the analysis are the responsibility of HM Treasury.

Revenue and Customs: Concentrix

Jessica Morden: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much his Department has (a) spent on its contract with Concentrix and (b) received in revenue as a result of reviews of (i) tax credit and (ii) child tax credit claims carried out by Concentrix since that contract was signed.

Mr David Gauke: The estimate of commission paid for the HM Revenue and Customs contract with SYNNEX-Concentrix relating to error and fraud is 15.8m since the start of the contract.The total savings to date in annually managed expenditure is £284.1m. We have no way to break down this figure any further and can only provide a combined CTC and WTC figure.

Concentrix: Correspondence

Helen Goodman: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many letters have been sent by HM Revenue and Customs contractor Concentrix asking tax credit claimants for (a) proof of single status, (b) hours worked and (c) evidence of childcare in each tax year since 2013.

Mr David Gauke: From November 2014 to the end of August 2016 Concentrix senta) 381k letters for proof of single status.b) 254k letters asking for hours worked.c) 312k letter sent for evidence of childcare.Information relating to individual tax years is not available.

Energy: VAT

Lisa Nandy: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue the Government has collected from VAT on household energy bills in 2015-16.

Jane Ellison: The information requested is not available. HM Revenue and Customs does not collect data on VAT revenue from particular goods and services.

Energy: VAT

Lisa Nandy: To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what his Department's policy is on VAT on household energy bills.

Jane Ellison: Supplies of fuel and power for domestic use are eligible for the five per cent reduced rate of VAT.

Department for Exiting the European Union

EU Law

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what process his Department has put in place to assess EU Directives and Regulations and whether it will be necessary to transpose each into UK statute.

Mr David Jones: As the Prime Minister has made clear, the UK remains a member of the EU until our withdrawal is completed. We will exercise our rights and meet our obligations as a member of the EU accordingly, including the existing directives. The Department for Exiting the European Union, with the support of other Government Departments, will continue to assess, negotiate and implement all relevant EU Directives and Regulations.

Parliamentary Scrutiny

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what discussions he has held with administrations of the House and of the House of Lords on the capacity of Parliament to process additional legislation required as a result of the UK exiting the EU.

Mr David Jones: We are considering the detailed arrangements for ensuring that Parliament can provide proper scrutiny of any legislation resulting from our decision to leave the European Union and will be taking this forward with the administrations of both Houses.

UK Withdrawal from EU

Mr Nick Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment he has made of the (a) financial and (b) other resources required by (i) the Government and (ii) his Department in the next 12 months related to the process of the UK leaving the EU.

Mr David Jones: Detailed work is underway to establish the budget required for the Department for Exiting the European Union to fulfil its set-up and responsibilities. This budget will be voted on by Parliament at the Supplementary Estimate. Individual Secretaries of State will undertake an assessment of the requirements relevant to their own Departments.

UK Withdrawal from EU

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what assessment his Department has made of the UK's right to halt the Article 50 process before the end of the two-year period allocated to EU exit negotiations.

Mr David Davis: The referendum result delivered a clear mandate for an EU exit and it is the duty of the Government to make sure we do just that. The Prime Minister has been clear that there must be no attempts to remain inside the EU and no attempts to rejoin it through the back door. Brexit means Brexit and we are going to make a success of it.

UK Withdrawal from EU

Karl McCartney: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what formal role the Scottish, Welsh and Northern Ireland governments will have in the UK Government's negotiations in respect of the UK's withdrawal from the EU.

Mr David Jones: The Government has made no decisions yet about the format of the direct negotiations with the European Union. In her first two weeks the Prime Minister visited Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland promising the UK Government would fully engage the devolved administrations to ensure we achieve a shared understanding of their interests and objectives. We will work with the devolved administrations throughout the process of preparing the UK position to ensure the interests of all parts of the UK are properly taken into account.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Staff

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many members of staff his Department has recruited since it was established.

Mr David Jones: The department now has over 180 staff in London. The Department has recruited the brightest and the best from across the civil service and brings together policy expertise from across the Cabinet Office, Treasury, Foreign Office and the wider Civil Service.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Vacancies

Stephen Gethins: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many staff vacancies remain to be filled in his Department.

Mr David Jones: The department now has over 180 staff in London, plus the expertise of over 120 officials in Brussels, and is still growing rapidly with first class support from other government departments.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Legal Opinion

Mr Nick Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how much his Department has spent to date on legal advice from (a) the Government Legal Department and (b) external legal firms; and how much he plans to spend on such advice in the next 12 months.

Mr David Jones: The department is currently assessing the overall requirement for legal advice and the associated funding requirement over the next 12 months . To date the department has incurred an estimated total of £256,000 in fixed fee legal advice with the Government Legal Department and a further £12,711 in relation to additional billed fees and disbursements. No spend has been incurred in relation to external legal firms.

Local Government

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what steps he plans to take to ensure that local government representatives are included in the process of exiting the EU.

Mr David Jones: As the Secretary of State said in his statement of 5 September, we are going to listen and talk to as many organisations, companies and institutions as possible – from the large PLCs to small business, from the devolved administrations through to councils, local government associations and the major metropolitan bodies.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Staff

Mr Nick Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many additional employees he plans to hire from outside the Civil Service; what roles such employees will perform; over what timescale such employees will be employed; and what the cost to the public purse will be of such employment.

Mr David Jones: The department has already started drawing together expertise from a wide range of civil service departments where there is specific relevant knowledge. Plans for recruiting from outside of the Civil Service are being considered and detailed work is underway to establish the Department’s future budget requirements, including for external recruitment.

Department for Exiting the European Union: Consultants

Mr Nick Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how much his Department has spent  to date on consultants; and how much he plans to spend on consultants in the next 12 months.

Mr Nick Clegg: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, how many staff are on secondment to his Department from the private sector; from which companies such staff have been seconded; what roles they perform; and what the cost to the public purse will be of such secondment.

Mr David Jones: The department has not incurred any spend in relation to consultants since it was created. Detailed work is underway to establish the budget required to fulfil the functions, set-up and responsibilities of the Department.

UK Withdrawal from EU

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what process the Government plans to follow for invoking Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty.

Mr David Davis: The first formal step in leaving the European Union is to invoke Article 50, which will start two years of negotiations. The Prime Minister has been clear that we won’t be triggering Article 50 before the end of 2016 and once we have a UK approach and clear objectives for negotiations.Article 50 explicitly recognises that a Member State may decide to withdraw “in accordance with its own constitutional requirements”. It is for the Member State concerned to determine what those constitutional requirements are.

UK Withdrawal from EU

Deidre  Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, over what timetable he plans for negotiations with the EU and with other EU member states to take place on the UK leaving the EU; and if he will make a statement.

Mr David Davis: The Prime Minister has been clear that we won’t be triggering Article 50 before the end of 2016. She has said that we won’t be triggering Article 50 until we have a UK approach and clear objectives for negotiations.The first formal step in the process of leaving the European Union is to invoke Article 50, which will start two years of negotiations.

Research and Science: EU Grants and Loans

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, if he will make it his policy that access to EU science and research funding programmes is maintained as part of the UK's negotiations on leaving the EU.

Mr Robin Walker: The Government recognises the importance of our research base, which is why we have protected the science budget in real terms from its current level of £4.7 bn for the rest of the parliament. The referendum result has no immediate effect on the right of researchers to apply to or participate in EU research programmes and the future of UK access to these programmes is an important issue which we will address during our negotiation.

Department for International Trade

Foreign Investment in UK

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking in response to the outcome of the EU referendum to boost the UK's inward investment promotion and delivery effort.

Greg Hands: Department for International Trade indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Foreign Investment in UK

Andy Slaughter: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what steps he is taking to retain current inward investors in the UK after the UK leaves the EU.

Greg Hands: Department for International Trade indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Young People: Voluntary Work

Justin Tomlinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many young people from (a) North Swindon and (b) England have participated in the National Citizen Service in each of the last five years.

Mr Rob Wilson: The NCS Trust does not collect data at a constituency level. Therefore, the figures in the table below are for the local authority area of Swindon. Details of participation rates have been held at local authority level since 2012. The participation rates set out below also include a small number of participants from Northern Ireland. There was considerable national growth in the programme in 2015 – exact figures on 2015 NCS participation will be published in the independent evaluation in due course. YearSwindonEngland and Northern Ireland2011-8,434201211726,003201311039,994

Video on Demand: Disability

Royston Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will hold discussions with on demand television providers on extending the provision of subtitles.

Matt Hancock: Yes. Furthermore, Ofcom, as the regulator for video on demand services, is currently consulting on the accessibility of on demand programme services and proposed steps to ensure their services are progressively made more accessible. We have requested an update from broadcasters, content providers and platform operators in Spring 2017 setting out their progress in increasing the provision of access services on video on demand services.

Sportsgrounds: Disability

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that public-facing staff at sports venues have disability equality awareness training.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of wheelchair accessibility at sports venues.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that public-facing staff at sports venues have disability equality awareness training.

Rob Marris: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of wheelchair accessibility at sports venues.

Tracey Crouch: Our Sports Strategy recognises the need for everyone to be able to access live sport and to benefit from the experience. It makes clear that sports venues need to provide an inclusive environment that welcomes all spectators. We want sport to be at the forefront of equality and want to see all sports venues proactively consider and put into practice ways of engaging with and attracting a wider range of spectators, including disabled fans, ensuring the offer and the environment are inclusive and accessible to all. We expect all sports and all clubs to take the necessary action to fulfil their legal obligation under the Equality Act of 2010 to make reasonable adjustments so that disabled people are not placed at a substantial disadvantage when accessing sports venues.

Northern Ireland Office

Renewable Energy: Cross Border Cooperation

Dr Alasdair McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what plans the Government has to pursue co-ordinated North-South renewable energy projects that take advantage of the North-South electricity interconnector.

Kris Hopkins: Non-nuclear energy is devolved in Northern Ireland and is the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive. My Rt hon Friend the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland has discussed with Executive Ministers and the sector increasing the security of supply, the costs to consumers and meeting the UK’s renewables commitments.

Department of Health

Medical Treatments Abroad: Europe

Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make it his policy to ensure that British citizens continue to be able to access healthcare on a reciprocal basis when visiting the EU.

David Mowat: As the Prime Minister stated on 20 July, as long as we are a member of the European Union we will respect the rights and obligations of EU membership, therefore the current arrangements remain in place. As we move to a new relationship with Europe, our guiding principle will be ensuring the best possible outcome for British people.

Diagnosis

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether all nationally-mandated algorithms used in healthcare diagnosis are publicly available.

Nicola Blackwood: All algorithms set out in National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines are publicly available on the NICE website at: www.nice.org.uk

Nurses

Oliver Colvile: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many non-medical prescribing nurses there are at level (a) PL1, (b) PL2, (c) PL3 and (d) PL4.

Mr Philip Dunne: This information is not collected by the Department.

Orkambi

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of alternative mechanisms to appraise the use of Orkambi in the NHS.

Nicola Blackwood: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published final technology appraisal guidance on 27 July 2016 which does not recommend Orkambi (lumacaftor-ivacaftor) for treating cystic fibrosis homozygous for the F508del mutation. In the absence of positive NICE technology appraisal guidance, any funding decisions should be made by National Health Service commissioners, based on an assessment of the available evidence and on the basis of an individual patient’s clinical circumstances.

Strokes

Chris Leslie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish his evaluation of the National Stroke Strategy for England and the Government's approach to outpatient rehabilitation services for stroke survivors.

David Mowat: There has been no formal evaluation of the National Stroke Strategy. However there is a continuous evaluation of the quality of stroke care via the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP). This measures most of the key indicators defined as important in the strategy and findings are freely available on the SSNAP website: https://www.strokeaudit.org/ The Government’s approach to outpatient rehabilitation services for stroke survivors is to encourage clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to commission evidence based care such as early supported discharge and longer term neurorehabilitation. There are some areas where these services are incomplete and NHS England is working with CCGs and the Sustainability and Transformation Plan footprints to address this.

Innovative Medicines and Medical Technology Review

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish the outcome of the Accelerated Access Review.

Nicola Blackwood: The Government expects to publish the review it commissioned on the independently chaired Accelerated Access Review this autumn. The Review team is currently considering publication dates.

Human Papillomavirus: Vaccination

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what guidance he has issued to schools on systems for (a) warning about and (b) responding to serious reactions to HPV vaccines.

Nicola Blackwood: A wide range of information materials is available to provide information about human papillomavirus (HPV) immunisation in schools. These include guidance on how to report adverse reactions following immunisation, and the steps to be taken in the event of a serious reaction. All healthcare professionals engaged in giving immunisations are trained in providing relevant information prior to vaccination, and responding appropriately to adverse reactions. Vaccine safety is of paramount importance and is kept under constant review. The HPV vaccine has a good safety record, and surveillance shows it has contributed to a significant decrease in rates of infection with the two main cancer-causing human papillomaviruses. The United Kingdom programme is expected to eventually prevent hundreds of deaths from cervical cancer.

Human Papillomavirus: Vaccination

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what representations he has received about serious reactions to HPV vaccines; and if he will make a statement.

Nicola Blackwood: Since 1 September 2015, the Department has received 36 items of correspondence from hon. Members, Peers, members of the public and organisations and held a roundtable meeting with hon. Members on the safety of the human papillomavirus vaccine.

Kidneys: Transplant Surgery

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people received kidney transplants in each of the last five years; and how many people in each of those years were listed as requiring a kidney transplant.

Nicola Blackwood: The information available is found in the table below. United Kingdom kidney only transplants, 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2016 Transplant type2011/122012/132013/142014/152015/162016/17Deceased donor kidney transplants1,5981,7501,9401,8802,036854Living donor kidney transplants1,0091,0701,1161,0511,038395Total kidney only transplants2,6072,8203,0562,9313,0741,249UK kidney only transplant list, 31 March 2012 to 31 March 2016 March 2012March 2013March 2014March 2015March 2016  6,4176,1145,6625,4685,081  Source: NHS Blood and Transplant

Department of Health: Females

Mr Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to implement the actions identified for it in the Government's Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy 2016-2020, published in March 2016; and when a member of staff from his Department last attended a Violence against Women and Girls Stakeholder Meeting chaired by the Home Office.

Nicola Blackwood: The Department and its arm’s length bodies are taking forward 13 actions from the Ending Violence against Women and Girls Strategy. The officials involved meet regularly to discuss developments on a bilateral basis and all come together at quarterly meetings on child sexual abuse. Progress on actions is reported through cross-Government arrangements hosted by the Home Office.Initially, stakeholder meetings were not aimed at other Government Departments but the Home Office is planning to invite officials from other Government Departments to future events as a matter of course. Departmental officials have continued to meet with stakeholders including Agenda, SafeLives, Women’s Aid, the Royal College of Nursing and with Department for Communities and Local Government and Home Office officials.

Kidneys: Transplant Surgery

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many people in the North West were on the waiting list to receive a kidney transplant in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Nicola Blackwood: The information requested is found in the table below. United Kingdom kidney only transplant list, 31 March 2012-2016AreaMarch-2012March-2013March-2014March-2015March-2016North West1712688700697603UK (including North West)6,4176,1145,6625,4685,081 Source: NHS Blood and Transplant 1 Former North West Strategic Health Authority area (Lancashire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester and Merseyside)

Doctors: Temporary Employment

Mr Nigel Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS trusts used agency doctors from other countries in the most recent period for which figures are available.

Mr Philip Dunne: The information requested is not held by the Department.

Orkambi

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the NICE press release of 17 June 2016, entitled Cost of cystic fibrosis treatment too high for benefit offered, if his Department will meet with NICE to discuss NICE's decision on the provision on the NHS of Orkambi for the treatment of cystic fibrosis.

Nicola Blackwood: There are no plans to meet with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to discuss its technology appraisal guidance on Orkambi (lumacaftor-ivacaftor) for treating cystic fibrosis homozygous for the F508del mutation. NICE is the independent body which makes decisions on the clinical and cost effectiveness of products based on thorough assessment of the best available evidence. NICE’s guidance is based on a thorough assessment of the available evidence and is developed through wide consultation with stakeholders.

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Greenwich

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the role of NHS Improvement was in awarding the contract for musculoskeletal services in Greenwich to Circle Holdings PLC; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: We are advised that NHS Improvement was not involved in the recent competitive tendering process which led to the award to Circle Health of the contract for the provision of musculoskeletal services in Greenwich.

NHS: Sustainable Development

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, when he plans to publish NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plans for (a) Staffordshire and (b) other constituent parts of the UK.

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will publish the NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan for Staffordshire which was presented to the Chief Executive of NHS England in July 2016.

David Mowat: Sustainability and Transformation Plan proposals are currently at a draft stage, but it is expected that all local leaders will be talking to the public and stakeholders regularly as it is vital that people are able to shape the future of their local services. No changes to the services people currently receive will be made without local engagement and, where required, consultation. There are longstanding assurance processes in place to make sure this happens. All footprints will submit an updated plan in October, with further formal public engagement and consultation taking place from this point, as appropriate. Many footprints are already publishing patient-facing summaries as part of their engagement programme.

NHS: Sustainable Development

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on the draft sustainability and transformation plans for NHS England; and what the Barnett consequentials of those plans will be.

David Mowat: Formal discussions have not so far been held with counterparts in the devolved administrations on the draft Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs). STPs will be funded from notified allocations and funding held centrally by NHS England. These form part of the NHS England Mandate and overall Department of Health departmental budget. The devolved administrations have received Barnett consequentials on the Department’s budget in line with established practice.

NHS: Sustainable Development

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many staff working for the Health and Care Transformation Boards in (a) Staffordshire and (b) other constituent parts of the UK receive a higher salary than the Prime Minister.

David Mowat: We are unsure what is meant by Health and Care Transformation Boards. However in regards to Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STPs): STP footprints are not statutory bodies, but collective discussion forums which aim to bring together health and care leaders to support the delivery of improved health and care based on the needs of local populations. They do not replace existing local bodies, or change local accountabilities. Each footprint has been asked to determine governance arrangements for agreeing and implementing their STP. Individuals who are leading the development of STPs within each footprint, which include National Health Service provider Chief Executives, Clinical Commissioning Group Accountable Officers, local authority senior leaders, are responsible for convening and chairing system-wide meetings, facilitating the open and honest conversations that will be necessary to secure sign up to a shared vision and plan. In the overwhelming majority of cases this is a voluntary, non-statutory role and they are not being paid over and above the remuneration they receive for their existing role. Their salary details will be available in the individual annual reports of the organisations by whom they are substantively employed.

Katrina Percy

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, if he will conduct an investigation into the ethical basis for the move of Southern Health Chief Executive Katrina Percy to another post at the same salary level; and if he will make a statement.

David Mowat: The decision referred to by the hon. Member was taken by Southern Health, as is appropriate, and is a matter for them and the relevant regulatory bodies.

Heart Diseases: Screening

Mims Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the Italian model for screening heart conditions in young people who participate in organised sport.

David Mowat: Last year the United Kingdom National Screening Committee (UK NSC) reviewed published evidence and literature on the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) relating to a variety of conditions including in young people who participated in organised sport and recommended that screening should not be offered. Cardiac screening is mandatory in Italy where young people undertake sport. This has resulted in an 89% decrease in mortality of those tested based data published in 2005 from one region in Italy. There are a number of questions relating to the effectiveness of the Italian programme that are not available in published literature. We are awaiting a response from the Italian Health Minister on behalf of the UK NSC requesting access to the data for the whole of Italy so that the UK NSC could see to what extent the data is representative of Italy as a country overall. The UK NSC will be reviewing the evidence for SCD again in 2018/19 and welcomes any data from the Italian government.

NHS: Sustainable Development

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many NHS staff are working on the NHS Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) for (a) Staffordshire and (b) other areas of the UK; and what the NHS staffing budgets are for each of the STPs in progress.

David Mowat: Sustainability and Transformation Plan (STP) footprints are not statutory bodies, but collective discussion forums which aim to bring together health and care leaders to support the delivery of improved health and care based on the needs of local populations. They do not replace existing local bodies, or change local accountabilities. Each footprint has been asked to determine governance arrangements for agreeing and implementing their STP. Individuals who are leading the development of STPs within each footprint, which include NHS provider Chief Executives, Clinical Commissioning Group Accountable Officers, local authority senior leaders, are responsible for convening and chairing system-wide meetings, facilitating the open and honest conversations that will be necessary to secure sign up to a shared vision and plan. In the overwhelming majority of cases this is a voluntary, non-statutory role and they are not being paid over and above the remuneration they receive for their existing role. Their salary details will be available in the individual annual reports of the organisations by whom they are substantively employed. As above, each STP footprint has been asked to determine governance arrangements for agreeing and implementing their STP. As these are locally led health and care transformation programmes, resourcing relating to each STP will be available at a local level.

Health Services

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support his Department is providing to those NHS trusts that are consolidating and transferring planned care services to neighbouring providers.

Mr Philip Dunne: The redesign and delivery of front-line health services is a matter for the local National Health Service – clinically led by front-line NHS organisations and clinicians who are closest to the needs of communities and therefore best placed to make decisions in the interests of their patients. All such decisions are locally led and delivered.

Circle Holdings

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many active medical practitioners are directly employed by Circle Holdings; how many of those practitioners provide musculoskeletal services in Greenwich; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: The information requested is not centrally held.

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Greenwich

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment his Department has made of the implications of Circle Holding plc being awarded the contract to provide musculoskeletal services in Greenwich for other services provided by Greenwich and Lewisham NHS Trust; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Dunne: The procurement of local health services by means of competitive tendering is a matter for the local National Health Service.However, we are advised that NHS Greenwich Clinical Commissioning Group does not envisage that the recent award to Circle Health of the contract to provide musculoskeletal services will have any implications for other services provided by Lewisham and Greenwich NHS Trust.

NHS: Waiting Lists

Ms Margaret Ritchie: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what recent discussions he has had with his counterparts in the devolved administrations on health and medical waiting lists; and what steps he is taking to reduce waiting lists.

Mr Philip Dunne: Health is a devolved matter, and there have been no discussions with counterparts in the devolved administrations about waiting lists for non-urgent conditions.The Government’s mandate to NHS England for 2016-17 includes the objective that NHS England should support the National Health Service to maintain, and where possible improve, performance against core waiting time standards in line with the NHS Constitution. NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to work together to support the NHS to maintain low waiting times for patients.

General Practitioners: Greenwich

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many GP practices in Greenwich borough have vacancies for practice nurses; what the consequential cost savings were per practice in (a) 2015-16 and (b) the current financial year to date; and if he will make a statement.

Clive Efford: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what the average cost is to the NHS of each patient visit to a (a) GP, (b) GP surgery-based practice nurse and (c) practitioner led service at The Source, Greenwich; and if he will make a statement.

David Mowat: The information requested is not centrally held.

Women and Equalities

Equality and Human Rights Commission: Staff

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, how many full-time equivalent caseworkers have been employed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission in each year from 2006.

Caroline Dinenage: The Equality and Human Rights Commission was formed in 2007 and is an independent body. The Commission is responsible for its own staff management, including the number of case workers it employs. I have therefore asked the Commission to write to the Hon. Member with the information requested.